By Miles Patrick Yohnke
© 2018 All Rights Reserved.
He has an undying determination to discover something new each and every day, and the wide-eyed curiosity of an ever-seeking child, yearning to learn any and all things.
I first met Orville Olm two years ago at our gym, the Iron Works Gym, in Saskatoon. He then was a young at heart 74-year-old. "What you training for," he said. "Life!" I replied. "Good answer," he beamed. "And you?," I asked, "One Saturday afternoon, in fact, June 16, 2012, just south of the casino, on highway 219 - I hit a deer on my motorcycle. Since then I have had lower back pain. My daughter, Kerry, mentioned I should try going to a gym. In fact, she got me the membership. It's helping."
"You still ride?" I asked.
"Oh yeah. I'm the secretary of the Saskatchewan Chapter of the (CVMG) Canadian Vintage Motorcycle Group - a non-profit organization that promotes the use, restoration, and interest in older motorcycles."
"And you, what do you do?" he asked. I replied: "Well... just employ your search engine of choice and type in my full name." At our next gym session he exclaimed: "I had no idea I was with 'Confucius'. I hope you don't mind, but I write as well, for our newsletter, and I used one of your quotes."
It was:
"You need both talent (engine) and effort (transmission) if you want to go anywhere in this world." - Miles Patrick Yohnke
"Can you send me more?" he asked.
So, I sent him this one:
"Your life is the key to your ignition. Go ahead, turn it over: generate a combustion that will spark the world." - Miles Patrick Yohnke
He read one of my articles about my late father, titled: "Soul Mining," and said, "You know, I too worked for your father. I was a kid. One summer I worked out at the Gardiner Dam, to help pay my way through university. I never really met him, but my foreman took his orders from your father."
Since that time our friendship has blossomed. I often refer to Orville as "Dad."
He really is the dad I have longed for (my own Dad was killed in a potash mine accident when I was 5 years old). We share so many similar interests, including talking about the human condition. In reality, Orville Olm is Confucius, not I.
You can employ your own choice of search engine and scout out his numerous accomplishments. An acclaimed inventor with multiple patents, flight enthusiast, and President of the Saskatoon Bluegrass Society, just to name a few.
For over two decades he also sat on the board of the Saskatchewan Polytechnic College in Saskatoon amongst many other boards over the years.
I'm just scratching the surface of what he has done. But more importantly, is what he continues to accomplish. On May 10, 2018, he turns 76.
Despite a series of serious health issues, he is still persevering, and continues to overcome many obstacles in order to achieve his many newly defined goals. There is a great saying that describes his life's mandate: "Death comes to all, but great achievements build a monument. Everybody ought to do at least two things each day that he hates to do." Orville does exactly that! And with the tenacity of a hungry lion and the roar of a 1926 BSA Round Tank Model B26 motorcycle!
You'll never find him wearing corporate propaganda t-shirts, but rather, t-shirts with quotes like, Hunter S. Thompson's: "Faster, faster, faster, until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death."
He told me of a time that he took his then teenage daughter, Melanie (now an accomplished animator in Toronto), to an art gallery. One installation consisted of a created room, with a string running from one corner to the top of another corner. Later, over supper, they discussed the installation. Melanie said, "That isn't art!" "Oh, yes, it is..., her father replied." They debated over this for a period of time, until Melanie was now flustered, and in tears. "See... if an installation can create a conversation like this, it's art!" he said.
This is just one of the things that I love about him. To stir things up. To debate. To think outside the box. Hell, throw away the box.
There was another time when he said, "you know 'O. Henry'?" I smiled at him, I didn't know if he was being facetious or not. Was he referring to the candy bar, "Oh Henry?" So, I played it safe, and replied softly "No." "Oh, I think you'll really enjoy him. William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 - to June 5, 1910), known by his pen name 'O. Henry', was an American short story writer."
Indirectly, it was his way of challenging me. Saying to me without speaking that as good as a writer you think you are, you can be a lot better. Set your aspirations higher.
He makes you want to improve your standards. Your goals. Re-evaluate your purpose.
One Monday and Tuesday, he spent 36 hours building a new tool, a new invention. To bore out a hole. "It looks beautiful!" he tells me. "It should be in a gallery. A gallery is the only place it belongs - as the Goddamn thing doesn't work!"
The beauty of what can be resolved.
Very often he will get lost in thought, problem solving, to fix the ideas gathered in his most elevated, busy mind.
This can occur anywhere and at any time. Even in a busy gym, in-between sets. Often, you'll find his head in his hand. What may appear as great pain, is in fact, just Orville lost in deep thought, troubleshooting, and discovering.
You see, his mind is way out front of most of us. In pole position. Gathering input data for output results.
His daughters, Melanie, Kerry, his stepson, Quinn, his wife, Marcy, myself, the members in the many clubs he's involved with, and anyone that encounters him knows his high amperage ways. How he pours his love, knowledge, and high octane fueled brainwaves into our life's jerrycans. He wants all to live lives of great importance. Great adventures. To first travel inwardly, to understand self. Then travel outwardly, to reach all others. Submit to trust. Be the positive change. Don't play life safe. No risk, no reward.
Mr. Orville Olm. A greater intelligence; a thinking machine; an eternal fire; a true original being. And most of all, a true friend!
Marcy Green Olm wrote a beautiful tribute for her late husband. Please click here to read.
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