Remembering our original Mrs. Oleson

Longtime local thespian, Shirley Knakmuhs — one of the Wilder Pageant’s ‘OGs’ — dies at age 96

The very first Wilder Pageant was held 47 years ago in the Walnut Grove High School gymnasium at a time when acting in the program was all but exclusive to Walnut Grove residents. Shirley Knakmuhs was one of them.

And for the next 16 annual pageant weekends, she embodied the character all Laura Ingalls Wilder fans lovingly know as Mrs. Oleson. Those close to the pageant at that time can still hear as Knakmuhs recited her lines, all the while playing the role as producer and driving force of not only getting the pageant started all those years ago, but building it.