Olivia P. Collins died Tuesday, December 13, 2022, at the age of 76 in her home of Meadowlark Hills, Manhattan, Kansas.
Olivia was born on October 23, 1946, in Weatherford, Texas to Georgie Layne Potter and Wilson Potter, who preceded Olivia in death in 2007 and 1997, as did the love of her life, Tony Jurich, in 2010.
Olivia graduated with honors from University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and was awarded her master's degree in human development and the family from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and her Ph.D. in family life education from Kansas State University.
Her journalism degree was always important to Olivia. It was her first career and helped her express herself, connecting Olivia with the arts and nonprofit organizations whose causes she supported throughout her life. As her love for adolescents and young adults grew, she pursued advanced degrees where her true essence of teacher and mentor shone through, landing her in places and spaces she enriched with her open heart, critical mind, and remarkable ability to form meaningful connections.
Following her doctoral studies, Olivia remained at K-State serving in 4-H Youth Programs, UFM Community Learning Center, School of Family Studies and Human Services, College of Human Ecology Dean’s Office, and retiring from the Staley School of Leadership in 2010, where she served as assistant professor and director of the nonprofit leadership focus, a program she co-founded.
Olivia was recognized throughout her career for outstanding contributions to education and developing youth, and for her community leadership. She was named Leader of the Year from Kansas Association of Family and Consumer Sciences in 1995 and recognized also by the National Council on Family Relations. Olivia received the university’s “Putting Students First” Award and was celebrated by her Staley School students and colleagues with the Rost Outstanding Faculty/Staff Award and the Susan M. Scott Community Leadership Award. In 2014, Olivia received the Wildcat Pride Award for her advocacy of alumni relations from the K-State Alumni Association.
Olivia had an authentic way of accepting – and applauding – everyone for their unique gifts and talents. She paired this genuine and complete acceptance with an ability to raise expectations and challenge those she connected with to give and do their very best, making her the wisest and gentlest of mentors. When she retired, she so missed talking with students – although so many would keep in touch long after graduation, with notes, texts, and over coffee on visits back to town – that she would talk with everyone else, including former neighbors and colleagues, her favorite servers and bartenders, friends from long ago or just met – always happy to offer friendly advice and gentle nudges to any in need. Olivia was also quick to celebrate others, sending cards, gifts, plants and flowers to congratulate, console, or encourage. She would generously host a party, send drinks to someone’s table or pick up the tab for their meal – just because and with delight; “Isn’t this fun!”
Olivia was an only child and spoke fondly of her “four-square upbringing,” running away only once – hiding in the bushes, struggling with who she wanted to be. Not so long ago she laughed that she was still in the bushes figuring out who she is. We know Olivia as an intelligent, caring woman who built family throughout her life. She was an extraordinary partner to Tony Jurich, married for 23 years, and loving member of the Jurich clan, including those she is survived by: bother-in-law Peter Jurich; brother-in-law Steve Jurich and his wife Madeline and their children Matt, Maggie, and Jake, who has welcomed Olivia’s kitty companion Bella into his home; and niece and nephew Fran and Peter Babrow.
There are many organizations to which memorial contributions may be made that would pay tribute to Olivia, including funds she herself initiated: Amy Button Renz Nonprofit Leadership Fund, Tony Jurich Community Commitment and Leadership Award, and Tony Jurich Marriage and Family Therapy Excellence Fund; and those she supported including the Meadowlark Good Samaritan Fund and Girls on the Run all may be sent in care of the Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home 1616 Poyntz Avenue, Manhattan, Kansas 66502. Contributing to any cause or organization you care about would honor Olivia’s philanthropic spirit and legacy of advancing the work of nonprofits to make lives better. Overtipping your bartender or server, as Olivia would often do, would also pay her tribute.
Olivia recently shared a poem by Mary Oliver that touched her heart, reminding her of Tony:
I believe in kindness. Also in mischief. Also in
singing, especially when singing is not necessarily
prescribed.
This is also how Olivia lived her life. Her light lives on in so many.
Honoring Olivia’s expressed wishes, there is no funeral service. Rather, we will celebrate her life, as she celebrated her friends and loved ones – with coffee and connection, a raised glass, music and dancing – on Sunday, April 2, 4:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the K-State Alumni Center, 1720 Anderson Avenue, Manhattan, Kansas. All are invited.