Karen L. Olson M.D

PORTLAND – Karen L. Olson, M.D. passed away on June 10, 2025, with her husband and children at her side. Karen was born in St. Paul, Minn., and raised primarily in Inver Grove Heights, Minn. She was the daughter of Mary Bartlett Olson and Jerome Fredrick Olson.

When her mother taught her to read at a very young age, reading became her first and lifelong passion. Then she discovered horses and spent many joyful years with her bay horse Klos. Karen was the leading lady in many of her high school plays. She loved English and history. She played the flute and won state honors both as a soloist and with her concert band.

Karen graduated from Macalester College. She was grateful to her professors who expanded her world. When she decided she would like to become a physician, and not a history teacher, the odds were against her as the only science course she had taken was astronomy. Before making this radical change in direction she volunteered at the Public Health Service Hospital serving Native Americans in Cass Lake, Minn. This experience convinced her that going to medical school was the right choice. She took premed courses and worked for a number of years. She graduated from the University of Minnesota Medical School, receiving outstandings in many of her clinical rotations.

During medical school she met and married Stephen Z. Hull, M.D. They were married for 43 years. They moved to Maine after Karen graduated from medical school and after Steve completed his residency program. Dr. Olson specialized in psychiatry. She was double board certified in both adult and child psychiatry. She very much enjoyed her specialty, her patients, and colleagues.

When their two children were little, Dr. Olson was in private practice, initially in Portland. She moved her practice into their home in Cumberland. That way, if the kids had a snow or sick day, she was at home but could still see her patients. Later, she worked at Opportunity Alliance in their mental health clinic, where she worked with the immigrant population from Afghanistan and Iraq, and with individuals experiencing poverty.

She spent the last seven years of her career working with veterans at the VA outpatient clinics in Saco and Portland. Dr. Olson felt compassion for all of her veterans, but especially for those of the Vietnam Era, her contemporaries. She went to the Maine Historical Society and suggested the society reach out to veterans and record their stories before their stories were lost. This led to the program Veterans’ Voices.

While at the VA, Dr. Olson supervised third year psychiatry residents from Maine Medical Center. She initiated the reading of classic war literature such as sections from All Quiet on the Western Front with the residents. This was not to glorify war, but to add to young doctors’ understanding of their patients’ experience as veterans.

Dr. Olson retired at age 71. She and Steve travelled, enjoyed being with friends and having leisure time together. She was excited to try her hand at writing and enjoyed meeting the group of aspiring writers of the Falmouth’s FAWG Writers group. But that aspiration was cut short when she developed glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer that caused her death. After her diagnosis Karen benefited greatly from being involved with the Dempsey Center.

Karen’s proudest accomplishment was seeing her two children grow into the wonderful adults they have become. Leland lives in Portland, Ore. Zoe lives in Westbrook, Maine. Karen is also survived by her husband, Stephen Z. Hull, M.D., her brother Christopher Olson and Karen’s sister-in-law Joan Olson of Minnesota. Her older brother Fredrick Olson also developed glioblastoma and predeceased her. She is also survived by three nieces and their children.

Karen’s family would like to extend deepest gratitude for the compassionate care provided by the teams at MaineHealth Cancer Care, Hospice of Southern Maine, and the Dempsey Center.

Karen’s family would encourage you to add your memories of Karen on her Memorial Web Page at: https://www.forevermissed.com/karen-olson-md/

A Celebration of Life will be held at the McKernan Inn, at 122 McKernan Drive, on the Southern Maine Community College campus in South Portland, Saturday, June 28, service at 3:00, reception to follow. The service will be viewable remotely on Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82014368226?pwd=9HunHbbBKevZt9HbK3av8Xb1GMgdHS.1, Passcode: Karen

In lieu of flowers,

donations can be made in Karen’s name to:

the Greater Portland Animal Refuge League or:

the Dempsey Center or:

Doctors Without Borders

Karen L. Olson M.D