Janet Kimball Olsen

Janet Kimball Olsen, age 96, passed away peacefully on September 18, 2026. She lived a long, faithful, and richly blessed life devoted to her family, her faith, and her love of music.

Janet was born March 10, 1930, in Blackfoot, Idaho, to Stanley Clark Kimball and Margaret Theone Carter. She was the oldest of three children, and grew up primarily in Montebello, California, where she developed a lifelong love of singing, school, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. She was baptized in the historic Washington D.C. Chapel in 1938 while her family lived in the nation’s capital during her father’s early career with the federal government.

Janet’s beautiful voice carried through much of her life. She sang solos from a young age, performed the lead in her high school’s production of H.M.S. Pinafore, and sang with the prestigious Pasadena Choir Ensemble as a young woman. After a year at Brigham Young University, she answered a call to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Spanish American Mission, serving in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Houston, Texas, and El Paso, Texas. It was on this mission’s path that she would later meet the love of her life.

Janet married Ray Olsen on April 8, 1954, in the Idaho Falls Temple. Together they made their home in Rigby, Idaho, where Ray farmed and taught school at Ririe High School, and where they raised their family. Janet and Ray were blessed with seven children, and endured profound loss along with great joy: their infant son Kevin Ray and daughter Margaret both passed shortly after birth, and their young son Tracy Kim died at age two in 1962. Janet often spoke of how these sorrows deepened her faith and her family’s understanding of the plan of salvation. 

In her mid-fifties, Janet returned to school, earning her teaching degree with honors from Idaho State University in 1985. She went on to teach second grade at Midway Elementary in Jefferson County for 13 years, a career she found deeply fulfilling. Later in life she moved to St. George, Utah, where she cared for her father, sang for years with the St. George Heritage Choir — touring with the choir to Armenia, New York City, Washington D.C., Mexico, and Russia — and served as an ordinance worker in the St. George Temple. In her seventies, Janet accepted another call to serve a mission, this time to the London England South Mission, working in the temple distribution center and as a temple ordinance worker alongside her dear friend Shanna Millward. After her father passed away, she returned to Rigby, Idaho, to be near her family and friends.

Janet held a lifelong, unwavering testimony of Jesus Christ and His restored gospel. She served in more than two dozen church callings over her lifetime, including as a chorister, Relief Society counselor and teacher, Young Women’s president, and temple ordinance worker. She found joy in her family, her music, her faith, and simple things — a home-cooked meal, a good book, an evening with friends.

Janet is survived by her children Kirk (Karlie) Olsen of Rigby, Idaho, Lori Kay (Rick) Gord of West Jordan, UT, and Mary Ann (David) Hanny of St. George, Utah, along with 13 grandchildren, 33 great-grandchildren and 1 great-great-grandchild. She is preceded in death by her husband, Ray Olsen, her parents, her sister Sara Ann Ornstead, and her children Kevin Ray, Margaret, Tracy Kim and Reed Joseph “Joe” Olsen.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, September 26, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. at the Rigby Fourth Ward building located at 401 W. 1st S., Rigby, Idaho 83442. A visitation will be held prior to the service beginning at 9:30-10:45 a.m. Interment will follow at the Rigby Pioneer Cemetery.