Olive Lynn Salembier [1915 – 1980]
Olive Salembier was born in 1915 in Victoria, BC, Canada. She graduated from Victoria High School in 1930. Olive studied economics at Victoria College for two years. While she did not have a formal degree in engineering, she became a recognized expert in Packaging Engineering. It was new branch of engineering at the time. She was quoted as saying “I wish I had one, I was an un-willing dropout, where college was concerned, during the depression.” She took numerous seminars and courses over her career to continue to grow as a professional.
Career Olive packaged everything from homemade pickles to military equipment for Viet Nam. She went through a lot of “popcorn” in her career – before bubble wrap was created. She taught numerous packaging related courses at Purdue University. Also, Olive was President of several packaging companies in Arizona and California in the 1960’s. In the early 70’s, she was a Packaging Engineer Consultant for Escoa Industries, Inc. of Phoenix, Arizona. She was working in an almost all male field and so needed persistence as well as knowledge.
SWE Olive was elected national SWE President 1970-72 after having served on numerous committees and the national Executive Committee. At the time SWE had 1200 members throughout the country. She became a senior life member of SWE in 1972.
Other Affiliation Olive was very active in the Society of Packaging and Handling Engineers, serving in many positions including the national Board. Olive was made a Fellow of SPHE in 1972 and was selected a Member of the Year. She was appointed to the Packaging Advisory Council of the American Management Association and was the first women to serve in that capacity. Her visionary mind came to the forefront when she led an effort to provide standards for the recognition of competence and knowledge in the emerging discipline of packaging. This effort led to a formal certification program in 1972. She was elected as a member of Sigma Pi Epsilon, an Honorary Packaging Fraternity.
Scholarship On Olive’s early death at age 63, her friends gathered funds to create a scholarship and, since she always encouraged people to go back to finish that degree, it was made a re-entry scholarship. Olive always wanted to help others reach their full potential.
Number Available: 1Class: Freshmen, Sophomore, Junior, Senior, Graduate
Major: All engineering
Amount: $2000
See Re-entry page.
