Olga Summers

was born on March 4, 1926 in Belgrade, Serbia (formerly Yugoslavia) the fourth of eleven children (and second oldest daughter) of a local shoe factory owner and his wife. Her childhood was quite carefree since the family was well off and her father was a respected businessman. All of this changed with World War II when the Germans occupied the city. An accident involving a German transport truck left Olga temporary blind until she had surgery after the war. By then the communist regime was firmly in power and had confiscated her father's factory. Shortly afterward, Olga's mother, Angelina, went to work as a telephone operator to help support their large family. Life at that time was all about having enough food in the house to feed everyone and Olga did her share to ensure this happened.Her life took a dramatic turn in 1950 when she met a perennial bachelor, James Summers. Family lore has it that they met while James was with the Embassy guard service in Belgrade and became acquainted with Olga's sister, Dragana who also worked at the embassy. One night Jim had extra tickets to the opera and offered them to Dragana because he knew she had a large family and could potentially use them. Jim didn't speak much Serbo-Croatian and Olga spoke no English so Dragana spent much of that evening translating for the two of them. Well, the rest is history - they fell in love and began a three year courtship that culminated in their wedding in 1953. By then, they could understand each other much better but kept a dictionary nearby just in case!Olga came to the United States in 1953 as the wife of a career military man, James Summers but soon had her own loyalties to her new country. As soon as she was able to, she applied and became a US citizen. During their life together Olga and Jim lived in California, Hawaii and Nevada. While in Southern California, Olga joined the foreign press association and wrote articles about local celebrities for her hometown paper. She also sponsored her two sisters and three brothers to come to the US to live. Olga wanted her siblings to share in the good fortune she had found in her adopted country. She also made sure that her mother and the siblings who stayed behind were taken care of, and had the opportunity to visit the country she had come to love. The happiest years of her life were spent in Hawaii when Jim was stationed there. She loved the people, the weather, and the culture. In later years, she often reminisced about those years and visited when she could. Once Jim got orders for Vietnam, Olga came back to Southern California to be near her family while she raised their only child, Dora. Upon Jim's return, they lived in Anaheim where he finished his Marine Corps. career at El Toro. Later, she went to work for Disneyland as a retail clerk to help put her daughter through college. She eventually retired from Disney and had more free time to do as she pleased. Unfortunately by then, Jim had developed Alzheimer's disease so the next ten years of Olga's life was spent as his primary caretaker- which she never begrudged and willingly took on. This also involved a move to Las Vegas when Jim finally had to enter a nursing home. They were fortunate to celebrate 48 years of marriage shortly before James' death in 2001.Olga continued to live in Vegas up to June of this year when her failing health brought her to Messenger House to be nearer her daughter and son-in-law. She is survived by her daughter Dora Summers-Ewing, son-in-law Larry Ewing, and four brothers: Milan, Voja, Rade and Ceda Vlatkovich. By her own request, there will be no formal service and she will be cremated and have her ashes returned to the waters off Hawaii. This was also Jim's request so they will make this final journey together.