07/24/2026
One year ago today, The Pheasant lost more than an owner. Brookings lost one of the people that shaped who we are as a community.
This photograph was taken in 1967, just one year after Ron and Georgie Olson became owners of The Pheasant.
At first glance, it looks like any old group photo. But it has a story.
These were restaurant owners and staff from across the Brookings area gathering at SDSU to plan waitress training workshops for women who wanted to work. The note on the back reads, “Planning Workshop for Waitress Training Classes – 1967 – SDSU.”
In those days, Brookings was a community built almost entirely by locally owned businesses. (Do you recognize anyone?) Rather than viewing one another only as competitors, these neighbors believed that a stronger hospitality community made Brookings stronger for everyone.
That was the kind of leader Georgie was even while running a 24-hour business and raising a house full of kids and foster children while married to an active-duty National Guard. We still try to live up to her philosophy.
Georgie helped to gather and worked alongside other restaurant owners to improve training, food safety, and professionalism while helping create opportunities for women seeking meaningful work and greater independence (at a time when that could be an uphill battle). She believed success wasn’t something to hoard. It was something to claim, but also to share. Communities benefit when anyone in it does.
That spirit became part of The Pheasant’s foundation.
Today, we remain grateful to be part of a community filled with outstanding locally owned restaurants, eateries, brewpubs, bakeries, coffee shops, and small businesses. Their success makes Brookings a better place to live, work, play, learn, gather, and grow. We believe that just as strongly today as Georgie did nearly sixty years ago.
As we remember her on the first anniversary of her passing, Ron and Georgie’s family (both biological and chosen) is proud to preserve their legacy. That legacy is a promise to care about each other, welcome everyone to the table, and leave our community stronger than we found it.
Thank you, Georgie.
Your legacy is still bringing people together. ❤️
