Longtime former Kennewick councilman, businessman dies

A former Kennewick businessman who served on the city council for 28 years died this week.

Councilman Bob Olson, 88, was the longest-serving member when he left office in 2015.

He had lived in the Tri-Cities for 71 years and owned and operated Melody Muffler. Olson retired in 2009 after running the shop for nearly 39 years.

At the time, Olson said he decided it was time to retire at the age of 77 after building the business from scratch. At its peak, his muffler business had five stores and allowed several other muffler installation shops to use his Melody Muffler name.

He told the Herald at the time he was spending his retirement time pulling weeds, shooting clay targets and doing maintenance on his rental properties.

He failed to be re-elected in November 2015 when he was defeated by Matt Boehnke.

In 2017, the city named the new five-lane road connecting highways 395 and 240 the Bob Olson Parkway for his work on numerous transportation boards in the Tri-Cities.

He died June 30 in Kennewick. Mueller’s Tri-Cities Funeral Home is handling his funeral arrangements.