Homer and Anchorage resident Dorothy “Dori” Marie Olson, 70, died Jan. 25, 2013, suddenly at her vacation home in Tacna, Ariz. She was cremated by Yuma Mortuary and Crematory and her ashes returned with her husband to Alaska.

A celebration of life will be held at 1 p.m. March 16, 2013, at Bayshore Club House, Anchorage, with a potluck to follow.

Dori was born May 10, 1942, in Lucan, Minn., to Henry and Francis Baune. She graduated from Milroy High School in 1960. Shortly after graduation she moved to Minneapolis, where she met and married her husband of 46 years, James M. Olson.

In 1969 she moved to Anchorage and fell in love with the state. She enjoyed cooking, gardening, fishing and hunting, and in 1989 got a rare chance to harvest a buffalo in Delta Junction.

She retired from the United States Postal Service in 2007, after 33 years of service. She started at the Airport Post Office in Anchorage and transferred to the Spenard Post Office where she worked until 1981. After moving to Minnesota for a year, her husband and she decided that Alaska was truly their home and moved back and took up residence in Homer in 1982. After she retired, she shared time between houses in Anchorage, Homer and her vacation home in Tacna Ariz.

Her family remembers that she had a great love of family and friends, a quick smile and a great laugh. She was a proud mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.

“She is gone but not forgotten, she will live in our hearts forever,” her family said.

She was preceded in death by her mother and father, Henry and Francis Baune, and brother, James Baune.

She is survived by her husband James Olson; daughters Lisa Wright of Anchorage and Heather Mahoney of Wasilla; stepson Bret Rathbun of Hawaii; grandchildren, Jamie Mitchell, Jennifer Wright, Harry Mead Jr., Savanna Mahoney, James Wright, Becki Wright, Nancy Wright, and Evan and Alex Rathbun; great-grandchildren, Isaiah, Jayda, Braydon, Kaiden, Madison, Hailey and Zoey; brothers and sisters, Laverne Baune, Merlin Baune, Roman Baune, Phylis Holt, Arlene Van Heuveln and Betty Baune, all of Minnesota.