Family and friends cherish Calvin Olsen’s successes, mourn his struggles at memorial following fatal fire
- Mark Sabbatini
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Olsen, 38, who helped launch tribal auto detailing shop, remembered as a diligent and compassionate father who suffered painful hardships in the final months of his life
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
Instead of conventional attire, they wore Sacred Shine t-shirts from the auto detailing business Calvin Olsen helped launch and Seattle Seahawks jerseys at his family’s request since that was his favorite team.
And between the many moments people struggled to talk about Olsen suddenly being taken from them in a fatal fire two weeks ago, there were also many stories about his diligence and devotion to helping others.
"He was a perfectionist and it would crack me up," said Jodie Gatti, a supervisor of Olsen’s during some of his many years of working as an auto detailer. "He would leave work one day, and the next day he would come back and say ‘I had to call the customers back and have them bring their car and show all the guys the small stuff that they missed.’ And so if anybody knows Calvin that's kind of person that he was. But he never really made them feel bad about it, just made it a learning opportunity for them."
More than 50 family members, friends and colleagues attended a celebration of life ceremony for Olsen at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall on Sunday afternoon. Calvin Olsen, 38, died on the night of Dec. 20 when a trailer he was living in at Switzer Village Mobile Home Park was destroyed by a fire.
Olsen, who grew up in Ketchikan and moved to Juneau in 2016, suggested the idea that resulted in the opening of Sacred Shine in 2018 while participating in the employment and training program at the Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. He was the lead detailer at the shop, which during subsequent years as provided training for other tribal citizens.
He eventually took a construction job with the tribe, but fractured a hip while working in April of 2024 and recovery became a struggle. He left the tribe about a year ago, struggled with alcohol abuse, and suffered pancreatitis in May of this year that later was diagnosed as pancreatic cancer a couple of weeks before his death.
"He was very humble, but very proud of what he did, and somewhere along the lines he just stopped being proud of himself," Gatti said. "And I just want everybody to know that I'm still proud of him and I hope that you guys can hold his memory up in that way as well."
Terra Adams, Olsen’s cousin, read an obituary for him that noted "he was born and raised primarily in Hydaburg and Ketchikan, but moved to Juneau years ago and started working and loved it up here." He married Jennifer (See Éi) Olsen in 2018. He is survived by his children Hailey, Ethan and Evan, and his stepchildren Damien, Lillian, Kristen that he raised with his wife.
"He was always so proud of his family — he always talked about his children," Adams said.
"He did suffer in the end and he just wanted to overcome his struggles, but he couldn't," she said. "He was hurting in the end, but he’s not hurting anymore."
Jennifer Olsen, who was out of state when the fire occurred, offered an emotional thanks to friends and other supporters who helped raise funds that allowed family members to travel to the service and help face their next steps.
"I just want to thank you for being here and holding up my family during this time," she said.
Calvin Olsen’s brother, Nathan, presided over Sunday’s gathering. Nathan Olsen had taken his brother to Bartlett Regional Hospital on the night of his death because of the pain he was in, but he declined to seek treatment. After being dropped off at the trailer, Calvin Olsen asked his brother to come back later that night to check on him, but when he did the trailer was on fire.
"I regret not going back in time to look over my brother before he passed," Nathan Olsen said. "But I'm happy I moved here to Juneau because he asked me to. I met my wife and I have a son because of him."
"He taught me how to be strong. He taught me how to be friendly to people. He taught me things I needed to know. And the best thing about Calvin is he would help you, he would support you, he would be there for you — anything you needed to get you to where you needed to be."
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
