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I was searching a database for San Luis Obispo County, found a link to Social Security obituaries, and discovered my brother Michael Anthony Olin, who was born on Oct. 14, 1955, died on July 17, 1997. I ran across the story of Mark Brown in your article about paupers’ remains “Dead Poor” (Oct. 8) and realized maybe this is why I can’t find an obituary for my brother. Michael was a normal child but following the Summer of Love he tuned in, turned on, and dropped out. It was the beginning of a long life of misery for him and those who loved him but could do nothing.
Committed to Eastern State Hospital in Oklahoma, Mike bounced back and forth from mother to father between Tulsa, Oklahoma and Oceano, California. Our father James Garfield Olin lived in Oceano and was once the owner of The Ole Rice House on Highway 1, which some people claim is a haunted house. Jim’s wife Lucy refused to continue living in the old home after seeing several strange things while Jim was away on business and she was left alone with the children (David, Michael and me), so she left him and they divorced. My father later owned the home in front of the water well or pumping station on Paso Robles Street at number 2350 in Oceano and also ran a TV repair shop on the corner of Paso Robles and 23rd. Anyway, my father did not know what to do with Mike and cast him out, which started Mike’s life of homelessness. At that point, I lost track of Mike.
A friend told me Mike had died from a drug overdose. He also told me a business owner in Oceano took pity and erected a park bench in Mike’s honor, where a band played and 50 or more people attended the dedication. I would like to know what happened to my brother. I loved him and he had a goodness about him in childhood, but I lost connection with him in 1989.
My father sold his property on Paso Robles Street and moved to Barrett, Minnesota. I found this story in the St. Paul archive:
“An elderly man was reported in good condition at a nursing home Tuesday after three people were charged with allegedly bilking him out of his life savings.
James Garfield Olin, 82, was taken to the Grant County Hospital last week after he was found dehydrated, malnourished and suffering from pneumonia in a house the three allegedly bought with Olin’s money, authorities said.
Garry LeRoy Nash, 31, was charged with theft and transporting stolen goods across state lines in the case. Linda Lou Pinske, 29, and her brother, Michael Steven Pinske, 31, were charged with conspiring with Nash in the alleged theft and transportation of stolen goods.
According to a complaint filed in Grant County District Court, Nash and the Pinskes ‘conned’ Olin out of about $48,000 from the sale of his home in California and the four moved to a farm in Barrett.”
My father died on Nov. 1, 1990. I located my brother James David Olin in Fort Bragg but he does not wish to have further contact. Please, would anyone who may have information about my brother Mike contact me via [email protected]?