Blanche Parrott Olson

Blanche Parrott Olson passed away in Orlando, Florida on March 25, 2018 at 88 years of age, surrounded by her loving family. Blanche was born on August 24, 1929 in Kinston, North Carolina to Frank Dibble Parrott and Nancy Wade Parrott. She grew up on the family farm along with her namesake Aunt Blanche, her cherished Aunt Willie, her eccentric Uncle Harlow, her brother David, and numerous farm workers, friends, and family who have predeceased her but whose love and support she cherished throughout her life. “In the hot summer haze we children – black, white, clean or tobacco-stained – sat on the long front porch and listened to the endless tales of Shakespeare Uncle Harlow told. We made up stories, poems, and plays of our own, acting in them, climbed ladders to give stirring speeches and relived the cowboy movies faithfully attended for 10 cents each Saturday. Sometimes we youngsters stayed at the tobacco barn where the ‘hands’ skillfully looped and wound green fistfuls of broad, sticky tobacco leaves along twine onto slender sticks – the workers all the while relating tales and gossip so far removed from my own knowledge and environment.” Blanche, known as Pinky to many, graduated from Granger High School and at age 16 began her studies at Greensboro Women’s College (now UNC-Greensboro). As a junior she transferred to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which was required of women at the time. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Education in 1950 and a Master of Education in 1962 from UNC. She was a lifelong Carolina fan, and enjoyed watching basketball games up until the time of her death. As a young teacher in the late 1950s Blanche taught in small town North Carolina, New York City, and New Orleans, where she lived an exciting life in the French Quarter. Blanche eventually sought bigger and bolder challenges, and became a teacher for the Department of Defense. She lived and taught in Morocco for many years where she had numerous adventures, the memories of which stayed with her always. With the full cooperation of the U.S. Air Force and the Crescent Rouge, Blanche became a liaison between American and Moroccan children. She spearheaded an initiative in which American children visited and helped in local schools and orphanages, learned Arabic, and invited Moroccans for fun days and playing the “strange game of baseball.” It was in Morocco that Blanche was also reconnected after years apart with her childhood friend from the farm Gladys, when she realized that her student Earl was Gladys’s son. After raising her children on stories of locust swarms on school buses and driving an old jalopy to Agadir, she was happy to be able to share the medina of Marrakesh and the beaches of Casablanca with her daughters years later. As a child in the 1930s and 1940s, Blanche made trips with her family to southern Florida and always passed through the town of Winter Park. When Blanche eventually married, she remembered the beauty of Winter Park and decided to move there to start and raise her family. She taught for Orange County Public Schools for over 30 years, including teaching at the old Park Avenue, Webster, Chickasaw, and Fern Creek Elementary Schools. She was instrumental in integrating the school system in central Florida, and volunteered to teach at one of Orange County’s first crossover schools. At the time of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, Blanche was “the only white person above grade three – student or teacher. No special help or protection was given but we were all there doing our jobs. I still have the essays the children wrote about their feelings that day.” Many of her students have kept in touch with Blanche throughout the years. As her children grew older and Blanche eventually retired, she continued to pursue her passions for travel and civic involvement. For years she would spend the month of October at American University in Paris, and also traveled to Israel, the Netherlands, and Canada. She was active in the Daughters of the American Revolution, the First Congregational Church of Winter Park, the University Club of Winter Park, Friendship Force, Alpha Delta Kappa, the Orange County Retired Teachers Association, and the Moroccan Reunion Association. She co-chaired the Restoration Advisory Board during the decommissioning of the Orlando Naval Training Center, which became the Baldwin Park community. Notably, the group was given the 2006 Phoenix Award, which honors individuals and groups who are working to solve the critical environmental challenge of transforming blighted areas into productive new uses. In an autobiography Blanche said, “What are my greatest contributions to the teaching profession in the last years? Love of the classics, a window on the world correspondence program, plays and journals – but foremost an acceptance and appreciation for each student and what he brings to the school family.” Blanche is survived by hundreds of students she has taught over the years, her daughter Aimée Merriman (Rick) of Orlando; son Frank Olson (Lira) of Roswell, GA; daughter Sigrid Olson of Montpelier, VT; brother David Parrott (Carol) of Savannah, GA; grandsons Brett Merriman, Matthew Merriman, Henry Lumbra, and Ray Olson; and granddaughter March Lumbra. There will be a celebration of life at the First Congregational Church of Winter Park at 11:00 a.m. on April 21, 2018. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. Express condolences at http://www.acommunityfuneralhome.com/

Blanche Parrott Olson

August 24, 1929 - March 25, 2018