Angela Olson

Angela grew up in West Point Utah when it was just a farming community (althought she did not grow up on a farm). In fact West Point didn't even have their own high school, she graduated from Clearfield high. She is the oldest of 4 children. Her mother had them all in 4 years. Therefore, this position of being the oldest in her family really helped define Angela and mold her into the person she has become.

Her dad named her Angela because it meant angel. Her parents would often ask her to remember that meaning. It helped Angela remember to stay on the straight and narrow and she felt a tremendous responsibility to be a good example to her other brothers and sisters. She must have been extremely responsible and good with them because from the age of 8 she was babysitting her younger brothers and sisters. She said right from the beginning she would pray to help others and lift them and to be an instrument in the Lord's hands.

Angela was deeply involved with musical everything growing up. She did singing, dancing, musical theater, playing the piano and anything and everything to do with music. Her goal from the time she was very young was to be a BYU young ambassador (they are apparently like performance missionaries and go all over the world performing). She was always working on that goal. Her first year at BYU she went into the audition and made it all the way to the top and was cut. When she asked why they said she was too young. So she prepared the entire year for the audition next year. The next year she was also cut and they told her that her audition was too perfect. That they wanted to see how she recovered from mistakes. She said she didn't know how to prepare for that.

She still felt on track however for a life in performance and had her mind geared toward Broadway. However while attending BYU they had a woman from Broadway come in and talk to the Musical Dance Majors about what it was really like to work there. This woman laid it all out completely on the line explaining to them that if they worked in Broadway they would have to give up many priceless relationships in their lives. The woman herself had given up going to her father's funeral, having children and her marriage. In light of this new information Angela decided that Broadway probably wasn't the best place for her. That what she really wanted to do the most was be a mother.

She then proceeded to change her major as a Senior to family studies. She then married and moved to Iowa state where her husband worked on his PHD. At Iowa State they didn't have a family studies major so she switched her major to Elementary Education which ended up being a tremendous blessing in her life.

When her little 2 girls, Mikayla and Emma were just 5 and 3 Angela's husband left her. That degree saved her. She was able to open up her own pre-school to support them. The pre-school was wildly successful. So successful in fact that she ran it for 12 years while all her kids were young.

She started her pre-school while she and her girls lived in Utah County. The problem with living in Utah County was that all her family was up here and she was tired of living away from them and not having any support. So she put her house on the market and it sold right away. However, right after selling it she met Paul, her current husband.

She met him at a Single Adult dance. He was the only one at the dance who could dance ballroom style. She watched and watched him because she loved ballroom dancing. So after a while she went over and asked if she could have a turn. He was excited to meet someone who actually knew how to do ballroom dancing. They dated and ended up getting married and moving up to Davis County. They both brought two girls to the marriage, almost the same ages, and then the following year, their son Mitchell was born.

When Mitchell was about 6 years old, the spirit started letting Angela know it was time for a change. She came to our neighborhood to interview for the music teacher position at Jefferson Academy. While at the school she saw this community. Since Paul wanted to live somewhere where they could have horses, and Angela wanted to live in the city, she thought this might be a nice compromise for them. So 4 years ago they moved into our ward.

She taught music at Jefferson for 3 years but needing more full time employment and because of strain on her voice she moved into teaching Kindergarten. She has taught kindergarten at Jefferson for 2 years. She loves Jefferson Academy. She loves the patriotic theme of the school and that she'll never have a class over 23 students!

Angela has had so many interesting experiences in her life so I asked her if there was a bit of wisdom or a life lesson she has learned from everything she's gone through. She told me, « I started out with a plan but everything I planned hasn't worked out. I've learned that I really don't know anything, except that I know I can't do it without Heavenly Father. He's the one that knows and all I have to do is my best and he'll still love me. »