Veronica “Ronnie” (Collins) (Goggin) Olson, was born May 23, 1920 in Pillager, MN to David B. and Mary Collins. Shortly after, the family moved to Murdoch, MN, where Ronnie would attend and graduate high school. Following her graduation, she attended St. Cloud School of Business. After she earned her degree, she moved to Benson, MN and worked at the Swift County Bank, a job that she loved. She met her future husband, Jim Goggin, and the pair married in 1946. The newlyweds then moved to Park Rapids, MN where Jim ran a Theater and their first two children, Maureen and Dennis, were born. After running the theater in Park Rapids for 6 years, they bought the theater in Wheaton, MN in August of 1953. They would have their third and final child, Kathleen, in 1958. Jim passed away in 1961, and Ronnie took over the running of the theater, managing it until retirement in 1988. Dennis, Ronnie’s lone son, passed in a motorcycle accident in June of 1977. Ronnie married Evan Olson in November of 1969. In 2016, Evan and Ronnie moved to Valley City, ND to be closer to family. They were together for nearly 50 happy years, before Evan passed in 2019.
Ronnie leaves behind her two daughters: Maureen Birchem and Kathleen (Mark) Thorstad, seven grandchildren: Stacy Ingstad, Nicole (Jim) McDaniel, Natalie (Jesse) Potratz, Michelle Damewood, Corey (Doug) Melby, Kelly (Brett) Lien, and Jessica (Brad) Sustad, and eighteen great-grandchildren: Abigail, Reagan, Jack, and Olivia Ingstad, Tate, Breck, and Kinlee Sufficool, Drew, Dacota, and Jaye Potratz, Jossy and Hunter Damewood, Everly and Mya Melby, Cohen,
Tor, and Troian Lien, and Amarrah Sustad.
Ronnie was preceded in death by her husbands, Jim Goggin and Evan Olson, her son, Denny Goggin, her son-in-law, Ron Birchem, her grandson-in-law, Rob Ingstad, and her parents, David B. and Mary Collins. Along with her 5 brothers, Pat, Vince, Jimmy, David Jr., and Tom, and her 3 sisters, Winnie, Madge, and Sal.
The funeral will be this spring (May) at Ave Maria Catholic Church in Wheaton, MN.