COLRAIN — Joan McQuade says growing up with an active doctor’s office inside her childhood home didn’t feel strange at the time.
“That was just the way it was,” she said simply.
This home doctor’s office was where her father, Dr. John “Olie” Olson, practiced for four decades. Olson was Colrain’s last resident physician.
On Thursday, April 13, McQuade will host a program for the Colrain Historical Society in her 7 Main Road home that once housed the doctor’s office. The event, chronicling her father’s life, will begin at 6 p.m. with a potluck, followed by the Historical Society’s meeting at 7 and McQuade’s presentation at 7:30.
Upon his death in 1979, Dr. Spencer Flo wrote in the Greenfield Recorder, “The passing of Dr. John Olson is the end of an era in America and in medicine.”
His practice certainly looked very different from modern medicine. According to an article in the Farren FanFare published in February 1979 by the Farren Memorial Hospital, Olson would travel for home visits in the middle of snowstorms. He would drive as far as he could but often walked the last mile carrying his supplies on his back.
McQuade recalled how people would get their tonsils removed in the home, and stay there overnight under the supervision of a nurse.
“My father would carry the tonsils out the back stairs,” she said.
After a long career working in hospitals, his home, the high school and multiple nursing homes, Olson volunteered at age 70 to be a practitioner in the Vietnam War.
Aside from his career in medicine, Olson was very civically engaged. He was a 50-year member of Jacksonville, Vermont’s Masonic Lodge of Masons, a member of the Colrain Board of Health, a water commissioner and founder of the Colrain Fire Department.
“I hope a lot of people will come and tell stories about their adventures of coming to the doctor,” McQuade said.
Coffee, tea, cider and spirits will be offered at the event. Advance registration is suggested by calling 413-624-8818.
Bella Levavi can be reached at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.