Kryn Olson was a teacher at the Sag Harbor Elementary School for 25 years, an advocate for her students, and a guide to their parents. “She helped everyone she could,” her daughter, Sarah Placke, said.
Ms. Olson died of a heart attack at age 66 at home in Sag Harbor on April 3.
She was also an accomplished artist. “It was the best way for her to express herself, even when we were little,” Ms. Placke said. After she retired in the summer of 2020, she turned increasingly to her art. In the last two years, after the birth of her grandson, she threw herself into the role of grandparent.
She was a weaver, kept bees, taught herself how to knit and play guitar, and made mobiles. “She kept expanding her interests,” her daughter said. “She had been doing ceramics and ornaments a lot last year,” some of which were sold at Serene Green, a farm stand in Noyac where Ms. Placke works.
Ms. Olson was soft-spoken but strong. At a recent Suffolk County meeting, the day before she died, she spoke in favor of preserving land in a critical water recharge area. She prefaced her comments by acknowledging that she was nervous to speak. “It was exhausting to her, but she was passionate about clean drinking water, the Earth, and protecting the environment,” her daughter said.
She was involved with the Wings Over Haiti project for several years and donated a painting for one of its fund-raisers. She once organized a book drive for the Jacaranda School for Orphans in Malawi. “It was enough books to stock five new libraries.”
For years she had urged the Sag Harbor Elementary School to make a greener use out of a dead zone between the school and a multipurpose court. Her persistence ultimately paid off. “She was the force behind getting the greenhouse and gardens created,” Matt Malone, the school’s principal, said.
“Kryn combined intelligence with kindness and generosity to help students develop a true love of learning,” he said. “This excitement was always on display in her welcoming classrooms, the Art Room, Science Lab, and especially in our school gardens and greenhouse. She was a special teacher, great friend, and a wonderful person.”
Born in Cleveland on May 6, 1958, to Duane Olson and the former Joel Robinson, she grew up in Michigan and Texas and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Siena Heights College in Michigan in 1980.
In 1994, she began studying at Southampton College. “She wanted a new start for us and thought she might be able to expand her art career out here. She found Sag Harbor to be a beautiful small town and said it felt like home.” In 2000, she earned a master’s degree at Stony Brook University, which prepared her for a transition from art to science teacher.
“When she transferred over to the science room, she blossomed,” Ms. Placke said, making that room into a menagerie. At her memorial service on April 8 at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in Sag Harbor, an elementary school student wrote of dissecting owl pellets with her.
“We had tadpoles back in our house a lot of the time,” her daughter said. “We have her Russian desert tortoise now.”
In addition to Ms. Placke and her partner, Robert Thornburg, of Sag Harbor, Ms. Olson is survived by a son, Travis Placke, his wife, Kristi, and their son, Charlie, of Marietta, N.Y.
Ms. Olson also leaves her husband, Brian Knab. The two met through mutual acquaintances and were friends for years before they wed in 2015. She is additionally survived by her mother, Joel Olson, who lives in Dallas, a brother, Kitt Olson, and his wife, Robbi, of Texas, and a sister, Kristin Mastny, and her husband, Bruce, of Michigan.
Memorial contributions have been suggested to the Sag Harbor Community Food Pantry, P.O. Box 3191, Sag Harbor 11963, or Project Most, at projectmost.org.
