Elaine K. Olson (M.A., M.Div.) worked as a psychotherapist/pastoral counselor since 1989 and ordained as a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America in 2008. Throughout her professional career as an entrepreneur (liturgical handweaver), director of urban program in Denver CO for Wartburg College, private practice as a psychotherapist and the vocational call of pastor, she has developed the skills to listen well, affirm process for problem solving, integrate various concerns and invite consensus.
After retiring as pastor of a campus ministry at the University of Illinois in Champaign, she and her husband Terry moved to Iowa to be near her grandchildren and be part of their lives. Rev. Olson is remarried after being widowed for ten years. She enjoys wondering about life with others, writing, being grandma, reading, theatre, nature and traveling.