Gary David Olson was born May 31, 1941, at the family home in Comstock, MN, to Henry and Mabel (Berglund) Olson. Gary was raised in Comstock and graduated from Barnesville (MN) High School in 1961. Gary lived in Leonard, ND, and Dilworth, MN, and settled in Fargo, ND, where he worked as a concrete finisher for AJ Construction.