Dear Friends,
Greetings of love and peace.
I write to inform you that URI’s Celestial CC has gained a new angel with the sudden passing of Peggy Olsen, who lived and served for many years as part of the heart of URI.
Peggy’s roots were Icelandic and Lutheran, but California was her home and she was friends with Episcopalians, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists – people of all faiths, really.
When URI held its first global conference at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California in 1997, Peggy Olsen worked tirelessly to have families in the local area host the 200+ participants from all over the world in their homes. The gracious hospitality and bridge building sparked by these and subsequent “Dine Arounds” were an enduring gift to URI, a tribute to Peggy’s imagination, commitment, hard work and generous spirit, and are enshrined in URI’s Charter in our principles about bridge building and hospitality.
Peggy Olsen together with Bishop Swing at 2011 Circles of Light.
In 2003, in one of countless meetings over the years to discuss fundraising for URI, Peggy offered that it was time for URI to have a gala fundraising evening. As Peggy loved to gently remind me over the years, I wasn’t sure we could be successful. As I took delight in replying to Peggy, she was committed to success.
And so, Circles of Light was born. Peggy chaired the committee that produced that first Circles Of Light, and each one since. At the beginning of each of these evenings, Peggy graciously welcomed all our guests to a celebration of the light URI shines in the world, a light Peggy shined in the world.
Nine years later, less than a month after URI’s 9th Circles of Light –– it is impossible to imagine a time when there wasn’t a Circles of Light. It is impossible to imagine a time when Peggy wasn’t shining her light in the URI community, helping to URI’s work for peace, justice and healing to thrive.
Peggy was a lover of wisdom, the divine feminine, and, for decades, a dedicated servant leader for many organizations that have helped make San Francisco, the Bay Area and our world better places. She blessed us with her wit and laughter, with her vision and practical commitment, and with her selfless giving of her whole self in service.
Peggy, you left us so suddenly and too soon. Even as we celebrate your life, we miss you.
Peggy Olsen and daughters Stefanie (left) and Kirstin (right).
I invite you to hold Peggy and her beloved family – especially her significant other, Steve Piuma; her daughters, Kirstin and Stefanie, Stefanie’s husband Kansas and their infant daughter, Reese; Peggy’s mother, Vivien; her sister, Deborah; her brother, George and his wife, Karen – and all who knew and loved Peggy in your prayers and meditations as she moves from this realm to the next.
If you wish to send messages celebrating Peggy’s life and offering condolences to her family, we will collect them and share them with Peggy’s family.
Blessings,
Charles Gibbs
URI Executive Directo
