Larry Olsen

Larry Albert Olsen, 80, remembered for his work, wit and loyalty.

Larry Albert Olsen, a police officer turned attorney whose integrity, humor and devotion to work and friendship left an imprint from Napa to Red Bluff to his hometown of Milford, Iowa, died Oct. 12, 2025, after a two-year struggle with ALS.

Born Jan. 21, 1945, in Spirit Lake, Iowa, and raised in nearby Milford, Larry was the son of Otmar Albert and Lila Rose Olsen. He had two sisters, Geraldine and Shirley and a brother, Don. His father worked at a meat-packing plant, and his mother cared for the home.

“He started working when he was ten,” his daughter Polly said. “They didn’t have much, so as soon as you could, you worked. He’d shovel snow, deliver papers, whatever he could do to help the family.”

After high school Larry borrowed money from his parents — “with interest,” Polly said — and drove west to California to pursue law enforcement. By the mid-1960s he was a police officer in Berkeley and Alameda County during a period of civil unrest. “Larry didn’t go into the military like many of us who ended up in Vietnam,” said longtime colleague Ken Miller, “because he was already serving on the police force during one of the most challenging times in our country.”

While working full time, Larry attended San Francisco Law School at night. “Every time I visited, Larry was at the kitchen table studying,” said Lynn Munro Carl. “One night Pat [his wife] got so tired of hearing legal terms she threw the book on the floor.” He passed the California Bar on his first attempt in 1979.

He later practiced law in Napa and Red Bluff, serving as a deputy district attorney in Tehama County, a public defender in Trinity County and also in private practice. “He was one of the most honorable attorneys I’ve ever known,” Miller said. “Even when he could barely move, he still wanted to work.”

Larry loved Roy Orbison, the Oakland Raiders and road trips with friends Richard and Raymond Dube. “We’d drive sixteen hundred miles straight through,” Richard said. “He could make an adventure out of anything.”

In 2023 he suffered a stroke while driving back from Iowa and was later diagnosed with ALS.

Larry Olsen is survived by his children, Nick Olsen of Napa, California and Polly Alberigi of Occidental, CA; granddaughter Noelle Alberigi; his brother Don; his sister Shirley; and extended family in Iowa and California. Larry is predeceased by his wife, Toby Felice Olsen.

A viewing will be held at Turner & Jenness Funeral home in Milford on November 1st from 10 a.m. to Noon followed by a private burial. A celebration of life will be held in Red Bluff at a later date.

In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made to the ALS Association in his memory.