Nic and Paige Olson have been busy in Iola, but it wasn’t long ago when they moved away from southeast Kansas to start a new life.
Born in Arkansas City, Nic moved to Iola when he was 9 when his father’s job with Sonic Equipment transferred the family here.
Paige is an Iola native who attended Allen Community College. After her graduation from ACC in 2010, the couple moved to Lawrence where Nic worked at a Zarco 66 Island Oasis gas station and Paige transferred to the University of Kansas.
Things didn’t go as planned.
After three semesters, Paige dropped out of KU while Nic continued at the gas station, which featured a sandwich shop and coffee shop. For Nic, this was a nightmare scenario.
“I worked at the sub shop, coffee shop and on the gas station side,” Nic said. “They just rotated me through everything. I wore an ugly Hawaiian shirt and some horribly blue-colored visor every day. It was awful.”
Paige took on as a customer service representative at a T.J. Maxx in 2011. With the change in direction, the Olsons knew a return to Iola was in the cards, but executing it would take patience. They were expecting a child and Nic’s job at the gas station was starting to become too much.
A breakthrough came in 2012, when the couple drove down to Iola for a side activity.
“Nic was writing plays for Allen Community College and we came down for a read-through,” Paige said. “We had learned that they were hiring for a manager at the Chanute movie theater.”
Nic drove down to Chanute for the interview. One week later, he received an offer to work as a manager for the theater in Iola instead of Chanute, which he gladly accepted.
“I was surprised,” Nic said. “The first manager who hired me as a 16-year-old bumbling kid would later offer me the manager position of the Iola theater.”
Nic worked at the Iola theater as an usher while in high school and a total of seven years from 2003 to 2010.
Nic said it was a hectic transition, staying in his mother’s upstairs guest room while Paige stayed behind in Lawrence in March of 2012.
AT ONE point, Nic was promoted to regional manager where he was in charge of six theatres. The promotion, however, took too much of a toll with its travel schedule and being away from home. He stepped down and remains the manager of the Sterling Six theatre.
Once back in the area, Paige worked at Emprise Bank for two years before accepting a position at Sonic Equipment, where she works as a purchasing coordinator. Paige said she made sure her connection to Eric, her father-in-law, did not affect the company’s decision to hire her.
“The new job is stressful, but I love it,” Paige said. “Last year, I started my photography business, so it really works well to have my job work with me.”
The Olsons, now living in Piqua, have been happy since returning to the area. Despite both of them working and now with three sons, it has been good to be with family again.
“We share a backyard with our grandma, so it’s good that our kids get to interact with their great-grandma and build a relationship,” Paige said. “It’s really nice to be so close to family. We have thought about moving away, but we’d have to convince a bunch of people to move with us.”
FOR NIC, it felt like fate helped he and his wife since returning. He has been able to raise a family while still being comfortable running the Sterling Six theatre.
“It was a pretty nice moment when the universe said ‘you guys need some help. Here’s a job and back where you wanted to move back to,’” Nic said. “We’ve got a lot of close relationships around here. It’s our town, so it’s been good to come back home.”
