Barbara Jean Olsen

Barbara Jean Olsen

SUGAR LAND - Barbara Jean Olsen, age 67, of Sugar Land, TX passed away Saturday, March 21, 2020, at West Houston Medical Center in Houston, TX. Born October 8, 1952, in Gardner, IL to Helen Marie (Sorensen) Olsen and the late Alvin Olsen. Barbara was a member of Job’s Daughters in Gardner, IL. Barbara was a long-time member of the First United Methodist Church of Sugar Land, TX.

Barbara loved animals, especially her Chows. Buffy, Toby, Mandy, Teddy and Kody were her babies and she spoiled them rotten.

Barbara was a nurse with a passion for her patients well-being. She moved to Houston, TX in 1976 to participate in the neuro-nurse specialist program through the Methodist Hospital. She got her BSN, MSN, and completed the Nurse Practitioner program for Neurology. Barbara worked her way up from floor nurse to house supervisor at The Methodist Hospital. Barbara then went to work for the Multiple Sclerosis Society as the Director of Patient Services and served on the Board of Directors. She oversaw patient programs, patient advocacy and assisting with grant applications. Barbara believed that the patients with MS needed resources such as books and educational programs, but also needed recreational outlets for the patients and their families – such as “Camp Can-Do” and Valentine’s Day parties. Barbara also helped develop and coordinated the volunteer first aid team for the MS 150 Bike Tour that went from Houston to Austin. They were affectionately known as the “Sick Puppies”. Barbara left the MS Society in 2009 to care for her father who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

Preceding her in death was her father, Alvin Olsen.

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