David Scott Olszyk

David Olszyk, 63, died at home on the 25th of June 2024 from the cruel disease ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). It was attributed to his service in the Gulf War (1990-1991) while serving with the U.S. Army VII Corps out of Stuttgart, Germany.
David was born in Somerville, New Jersey, on 18 January 1961 to Thomas and Naomi Olszyk and lived in Somerset, New Jersey, until joining the Army in August 1979 as an Army musician (bassoon). After basic training at Ft. Dix, New Jersey, he was stationed at Ft. Meade, Maryland, and attended military schools at the Naval Amphibious Base, Norfolk, Virginia. It was while he was at school in Virginia that he eloped at the Norfolk County Courthouse in August 1983 with his fiancé Anita Cudney.
Barely 18 months later, the Army sent him to Berlin in January 1985, which began an almost 14 year adventure in Germany. After four years in Berlin with the Berlin Brigade Band, he transferred to Stuttgart, Germany, to the 298th Army Band and was sent to the Gulf War. After the war, the U.S. forces in Europe began a drastic drawdown and David squeaked in another extension and moved to Wuerzburg in northern Bavaria. In a weird twist of fate related to the drawdown, the army decided he would then be a finance specialist and he was assigned to the 106th Finance Battalion. During his time in Wuerzburg, he spent six months deployed to Task Force Able Sentry in Macedonia (now known as North Macedonia).
He took every opportunity to explore Europe and lived in German apartments. He also spoke German very well. He hiked, biked and skied and traveled to 26 different countries and earned his B.S. degree from the University of Maryland in 1992. Two cats joined the household in Wuerzburg and he was a "cat dad" to fourteen furry friends and five are still at home.
He was close to retirement after his time in Wuerzburg in 1998, but didn't want to retire to the United States after not living there in so many years. He requested Ft. Lewis (now Joint Base Lewis McChord) but got stationed on the opposite end of the country-Ft. Drum, New York. He retired at Ft. Drum at the beginning of the millennium, January 2000. His wife, Anita, was an Army civilian employee. She transferred to a new position at Joint Base Lewis McChord in June, 2000, and Olympia, Washington, became home for 24 years.
Using training as a Master Fitness Trainer in the Army, he worked at Bally's and a couple independent gyms and fitness studios and worked as a personal fitness trainer and spin instructor. When not working, he transformed the yard into rock gardens and an arboretum and was involved with the American Conifer Society. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of trees and plants.
He continued to enjoy traveling and visited all fifty states and was also a "National Park Nerd". Before the pandemic and his illness intervened, he looked forward to exploring the Canadian provinces and parks.
He is survived by his wife of almost 41 years, Anita. He is also survived by his parents Tom and Naomi in Florida and four brothers and a sister: Jeff (Jen) and Glenn (Melinda) in New Jersey; Richard (Lisa) and Craig (Tina) in South Carolina; and Heather Emons (Donnie) in Florida.
There will be no services, but some form of informal gathering will happen later this summer. In lieu of flowers, consider donating to the ALS Association, the Paralyzed Veterans of America or any organization that supports the welfare of animals.
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