October 23, 1937-January 15, 1999
A memorial service was held on Friday, Feb. 19 in Wappinger Falls, NY for our sister Olga. The eulogy was given by Dr. David Carlson, pastor of HSA-UWC Family Church of Red Hook, NY, and faculty member of the Unification Theological Seminary in Barrytown.
Olga was a devoted mother of four sons and one daughter, and grandmother of 12. She and her husband Joseph O’Connell were Blessed at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 29, 1997.
Olga was very open spiritually, and shared many of her spiritual experiences with Joseph. Shortly before the Blessing in Washington, Olga had a dream about me. We were walking together, and were both dressed in white, trimmed with gold. When we came to Washington, we were all given white and gold scarves, and were amazed at the prophetic nature of Olga’s dream.
After the Blessing, Olga confided to me that there was a definite change in her marriage relationship for the better. Altogether, they had been with each other for almost five years, during which time Joseph developed a close bond with Olga’s family.
Shortly after Olga’s memorial service, her daughter Ingrid had a spiritual experience before sleep. She felt a warm, loving embrace; she thought it was her husband, but when she looked around, there was no one in sight. Then she realized she was alone, and that it was her mother who had embraced her from the spirit world!
A few days later, Ingrid had another dream about her mother. They were walking together, and her mother looked so young and beautiful, just like the picture of her mother which was used for the memorial service. Suddenly her mother said, "I’m clean inside. Don’t let anyone tell you different. I’m clean inside." Olga repeated this three times. Ingrid didn’t know what she meant. She shared both of these experiences with Joseph, who then shared them with me.
Of course, the Blessing serves to purify the blood lineage and remove the Original Sin through the Holy Wine Ceremony. So we understand that this is what happens to couples who are Blessed. However, this is the first time I’ve heard corroboration on this phenomenon from someone in the spirit world, especially someone not educated in Unification Theology. Olga was well-versed in Roman Catholicism, and attended the Roman Catholic Church religiously, as did her children. She lived a pure and sacrificial life, and all who knew her loved her, because the exemplified the spirit of living for the sake of others.
Joseph shared with me also the testimony of one of Olga’s close friends who is spiritually open, who had not heard of her passing away. He called Joseph and told him he had had a vision of Olga in the spirit world, and said she was in a high place in the spirit world. Joseph then told him that Olga was, in fact, in the spirit world.
I was very moved and excited when Joseph shared Ingrid’s testimony with me on the phone. And the more I reflected, the more I wanted to share this information with all of our members who are Blessed. I believe this testimony will help to inspire us to share the Blessing with all of our families, friends, acquaintances, and others. Also, I feel that this testimony will strengthen our faith in Father’s mission and inspire us to bring as many people to True Parents as we possibly can. This is especially the case since we have now begun the campaign to bring young candidates for the matching and Blessing. We are facing a great challenge to bring 800 million young people to be matched and Blessed in the year 2000, throughout the world, as 400 million couples. I feel that True Parents are desperate to protect and rescue the young people of the world from Satan’s dominion, and bring them to God’s dominion through the Blessing. We must help them in any way we can.