In Memory of Margarita Johanna Olson
Margarita Johanna Olson
Spouse: Christopher Olson
Children: Maniyer, Heidi, Christopher, Channa, and Jenneke
DOB: April 11, 1949
Blessing Date: February 8, 1975
Ascension: December 22, 2024
Seonghwa Ceremony: Saturday, Dec 28, 2024 at 10:30 AM EST at the Indianapolis Family Church on 6202 Michigan Rd, Indianapolis, IN 46268
Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81527256273
Meeting ID: 815 2725 6273
Margarita van der Stok was born on April 11, 1949 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Her father worked for a Dutch shipping company in this former colony of the Netherlands. Margarita was 8 years of age when the van der Stok family moved back to Holland in 1957. In 1958, Margarita became seriously ill and almost died. She recovered but had to have one of her kidneys removed.
Margarita was introduced to our True Parents and the Unification Principle in late 1967 when she was 18 years old. Her older brother, Johan, joined the Unification Church in 1965 in Cleveland, Ohio, returned to the Netherlands and introduced his family to our True Parents. The entire van der Stok family of Johan’s parents and four siblings joined the Unification Church in 1968 and all were eventually Blessed in marriage.
From 1968 – 1972, Margarita studied nursing at a hospital in Amsterdam. She also decided to live in the Unification Church center and become more active in church missions in 1970. During this time, she decided to give up her nursing career and to offer full time devotions to her new found path of faith.
In March, 1973, Margarita joined a group of 20 other Dutch church members to become missionaries to the USA. Later that year in October, she joined the International One World Crusade (IOWC), where teams of 50 members would travel throughout America in support of Rev. Moon’s speaking tours.
In late 1974, Margarita was chosen to join a special IOWC team that would do church activities in Japan and Korea. During that time Margarita participated in the 1800 couples Blessing held in Seoul, Korea on February 8, 1975. She was Blessed in an international marriage with her husband, Christopher Olson (USA).
Margarita left Japan in 1976 and returned to Holland where she continued her devotional life in a variety of church missions until late 1979. In early 1980, Margarita joined her husband, Christopher, as an international missionary. Together they worked teaching the Divine Principle and promoting the activities of our True Parents in New Zealand, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico. During those missionary years Margarita gave birth to her five children (Maniyer, Heidi, Christopher, Channa, and Jenneke).
The Olson family returned from their international missions in 1993, settling in Christopher’s home town of Pacifica, California. Through the next three decades, mostly centered on the Bay Area Family Church, Margarita established an import/wholesale jewelry company as a foundation for our family life in California. Her main mission, however, was the raising of her young and growing family (ages 3-12). Church life continued to be central and Margarita connected to the many developments in God’s providence… going to Sunday service, attending True Parents’ public speeches, traveling to Korea several times, Liberating and Blessing ancestors, supporting WFWP, etc.
In July 2021, Margarita and her husband moved to Carmel, Indiana, to live as a three generational family, including 4 of her 8 grandchildren. Our Indianapolis Family Church has been a source of great joy and inspiration for Margarita during our three and a half years in Indiana. The love that she has given and received from our church community in Indiana will always remain with her.
