Olive Marie Oesch went to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Monday, the 25th of November, 2024, surrounded by her family at the Wendover Hospice House in Shelby, NC.

The daughter of the late Maude Louise Walden Krisher and the late Ralph Edward Krisher, Olive was born on October 19, 1934, in Dayton, Ohio. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Billie Oesch, her brother, Ralph Edward Krisher Jr, and four of her children: Ramona Oesch (1974), Rebecca Oesch Edsall (2022), Wayne Oesch (1994), and William Oesch (1996), and a grandson, Douglas Oesch (1987).
Olive grew up in Dayton, Ohio, and was the oldest of four. She was a great help to her mother, as her younger sister and brother arrived when Olive was 13 years old. As a child, Olive enjoyed riding bikes, roller skating, playing "Jacks" and enjoying family pets. As a young adult, Olive aspired to be a nurse, but she soon met a dashing United States Air Force Airman, Billie Oesch, a young Indiana farm boy. They married in April 1954 and spent the next 44 years together until Bill passed away in 1998.
Olive's love for Bill took her to northern Indiana, to Topeka, Wolcottville, and Rome City. While residents of Wolcottville, Olive, and Bill managed a successful mobile home park. Olive and Bill had six children, which became the true joys of Olive's life.
While raising the children, Olive was a den mother for the Cub Scouts and a troop leader for the Brownies and Girl Scouts. She also decorated cakes for weddings and special occasions, sold Sarah Coventry jewelry, and worked on the fiberglass lines at a nearby recreational trailer factory.
Olive's tenacity and dream to be a nurse motivated her, at 47 years old, to drive an 80-mile round trip to Lutheran Hospital in Ft Wayne, Indiana, to study and ultimately become a Licensed Practical Nurse. She later worked at Lutheran Hospital and a local physicians' office. Her nursing skills were particularly valuable during the last years of her marriage as she cared for Bill after he was diagnosed with chronic cardiac disease.
Throughout her life, Olive was an intensely spiritual woman of faith and devotion. Her well-worn bible is living evidence of her study of scripture. As a youth, Olive was baptized into what was known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, now known as the Community of Christ. Olive was often called on to deliver sermons as part of their lay ministry. Olive was the director of children's summer camp programs and a regional women's leader. The depth of Olive's faith remains an inspiration to everyone privileged to know her.
Olive's faith and resiliency would be tested throughout her life. Her daughter Mona was tragically lost in an automobile accident in 1974, and the pain of that loss, as well as the later losses of three other children, presented Olive with tremendous challenges. After Mona's accident, Olive joined and ultimately became a leader in Compassionate Friends, a support group designed for grieving parents who had lost a child. For more than ten years after Mona's death, Olive lovingly supported other heartbroken parents.
Born with an enormous amount of natural curiosity, Olive's appetite for knowledge was insatiable, and she was an avid reader. Throughout her life, she maintained her sense of humor. Olive joined her husband Bill's combo known as "the Good Times Band," playing the bucket bass drum and performing for nursing home residents or just for fun in the backyard.
Olive was a person of high character, integrity, enormous courage, faith, and kindness. She is survived by her sister, Patricia Krisher Thomas (Mike) of College Station, Texas; brother, Howard Penn Krisher II of Dayton, Ohio; daughter, Renee Oesch Klein (Peter) of Baltimore, Maryland, and her son, Wade Eliot Oesch of Waterloo, Indiana. She is survived by eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, and a host of nieces and nephews. Olive will be missed by her faithful dog Mickey, who stayed by her side until her very last day. The family wants to thank Maribel Bravo for her devoted care and Olive's beloved granddaughter, Lyndsey Edsall, for her love, support, and care over the last few years of her life.

A private Celebration of Life will be held at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to Hospice of Cleveland County at 951 Wendover Heights Drive, Shelby, NC 28150


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