"The Shack"

(continued)

Sigurd's Last Words

This is a closeup of Sigurd's typewriter and writing desk, left as it appeared after his death, the typewriter still containing the sheet with Sigurd's last words. The image below was scanned from a photocopy of this sheet. The words appeared at the top of the page, right of center:

[The last word of the first line is "up"--Sigurd's typewriter was getting old and the keys weren't striking as well as they used to. Also, a small amount of detail was lost in the copying.]

During Sigurd's funeral, on January 16, 1982, Northland College President Malcolm McLean mentioned these last words during the eulogy, describing them as Sigurd's "last testament of hope and encouragement to us." Since then, many Olson fans have spread the story, interpreting the sentence as proof that Sigurd, who in his last years often had been treated as a spiritual guru, had foreseen his death and was looking forward to whatever came next.

None of his family believed this interpretation, although it is impossible to know for sure what he was thinking about when he wrote these words--or even when he wrote them. Robert K. Olson said he thought his father might have thought of the sentence in the last weeks of his life, when it was clear he was extremely weak and could die at any time, and decided to leave it as his last words "just in case." Sigurd Olson Jr. also thought about that possibility, and described his father's last words as--if not intentionally left as his brother suggested--a striking coincidence that played to the wishes of those who looked up to his father as an icon. "Here he writes this," he said, "and then he goes out and dies. You know, he did a lot of dramatic things in his life. It was almost as though that was part of the role, and he just kept with it right on up to the very end."