Tuesday, August 13, 2002
Page 3
Services Set for Superior Court Probate Attorney Olafson
By a MetNews Staff Writer
A viewing is scheduled today for Los Angeles Superior Court probate attorney George Olafson, who passed away Saturday.
He was 70.
Friends and colleagues remembered the long-time court probate attorney as a quiet, soft-spoken man who had a special knack for letting attorneys know exactly what they needed to do to have their cases approved or set for a hearing.
“George was absolutely a gem,” East District Supervising Judge George Genesta, who oversees probate, said.
Olafson was responsible for clearing notes for San Fernando, Pomona and Lancaster.
To prepare for the probate calendar on Fridays, Genesta and Olafson would get together on Thursdays to go over the cases, where Olafson would offer his insights and the two would go over the instructions Olafson wrote for the lawyers.
“I could always rely on his analysis of a case,” Genesta said.
Genesta said he plans to honor Olafson with a moment of silence before beginning this Friday’s probate calendar.
Pomona probate clerk Barbara Freet said Olafson was always eager to explain the law to anyone who needed help.
“He had a lot of knowledge he enjoyed sharing,” she said.
The well-liked Olafson also had the reputation among the probate bar of doing his job well while at the same time managing to be laid-back and not nit-pick.
“He could see the forest for the trees as well as the pinecones,” probate attorney J. Benjamin Selters said.
Probate attorney Bob Kern said Olafson was one of the “most efficient probate attorneys I’ve worked with and probably one of the most reasonable.”
“I think the other districts were envious he’d been assigned to Pomona,” Selters said.
Olafson had struggled with several illnesses over the years, colleagues said, but he refused to retire, always returning to work with a smile on his face.
“Other people would have retired or taking disability...but he kept coming back to work,” Kern said.
Olafson attended the University of Southern California Law Center and was admitted to the State Bar in 1961.
He is survived by his wife Karen and his daughter Christian.
The viewing is set for 3-7 p.m. at Live Oak Memorial Park in Monrovia. Funeral services are scheduled for tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. at Live Oak.
Copyright 2002, Metropolitan News Company