Lasting Memories

June Hedge Olney
June 25, 1925-July 25, 2026
Livermore, California

On Saturday, July 25th our beloved Mom, Grandmother, Great Grandmother, sister, aunt peacefully went to be with the Lord, surrounded by her loving family. During her last couple of weeks, friends and family warmed our home and our hearts by visiting and encircling her with love, sharing the blessings of her friendship and a lifetime of treasured memories. June is survived by her siblings, Betty Rae Raymond, Ruth Fena and Ann Miller, 4 of her 5 children, Bob, Joel (Gail), Mark (Carla), Steven (Rose) and her 6 grandchildren, Alexa Sawicki (Chris) Campbell, Travis (Emily) Olney, Madison (Taylor) McMahon, Dane (Brittany) Olney, Jackie Olney, Hunter Olney and 8 great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband Bill Olney, youngest son Russell, and her siblings Fern Edwards and Roger Hedge. She was born in Jackson, MN to Lena and Don Hedge and moved as a toddler to Humboldt, IA. After junior college in Sioux City, IA, she took the train to Southern California to attend USC to become a dental hygienist. Here she met and married William Nichols Olney who was attending USC on the GI Bill. Bob and Joel were born while living in Manhattan Beach, then they moved to Hermosa Beach, Torrance and finally to Rolling Hills Estates while having 3 more sons. She pushed her husband to make the last move so she could realize her dream of owning a horse. They first adopted a cranky old mustang then adopted a beautiful Arabian that we all rode and loved. She moved on to starting a business, Olney Peruvians, breeding and raising Peruvian Pasos. She also competed in a 100 mile horseback marathon in France. She rode horses until, as she put it, her last horse “got too old”. (She was 89 and still riding) After her husband Bill passed in 1999, she kept hiking the trails, managing the horse property and working to keep the local riding trails open until moving to Livermore in 2015 to live with family. She had many friends in Rolling Hills Estates, and especially at her church, the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection in Redondo Beach, California. She made numerous friends in Livermore and at Valley Community Church in Pleasanton. Many friends and neighbors would stop and chat as she walked her 12 blocks around downtown Livermore, twice per day. As a child during the Great Depression, June was shaped by hard work and caring for others. She saw families losing their farms, including her own family. She heard about city people starving and mass migrations from the Midwest to California, but as a young farm girl, she had plenty of food and food to trade and give to others. Even though her family became sharecroppers on the farm they lost, she never felt poor, she felt blessed. She was imbued with a strong sense of right and wrong, empathy for others and leading a Christian life to it’s fullest. June knew in her bones that it is right to love everyone, to help those in need and that it’s wrong to treat anyone as something other than an equal.

A Celebration of Life is planned at Valley Community Church (4555 Del Valle Parkway) on Saturday, September 26th at 10 am.

In lieu of flowers, donate to VCC Benevolence Fund: vc.church/give. Or another favorite: Meals on Wheels: online at Spectrumcs.org.