Richard Olszewski

Richard Olszewski, 84, Yakima, WA

It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved father, Richard

Olszewski, who passed away peacefully at home on March 10, 2025 at the age of 84. A proud

veteran of the U.S. Navy and above all a devoted family man, his unwavering love and

commitment leave a legacy that will be forever cherished.

Richard was born on November 19, 1940 in Maspeth, New York and grew up in Roslyn, NY,

where his parents bought their first house. He would often share stories of playing pranks with

his brothers, cousins and friends. He lettered in high school on the rifle team and learned to

work on cars. His first job was working on the weekends as a caddy at a local golf course. This

led to a lifelong love of the game.

Richard’s strong sense of duty and patriotism led him to enlist in the Navy at the age of 17,

where he served on several ships during his 10-year career; including the USS Wasp (CV-18),

USS Independence (CV-62) and USS Rockbridge (APA-228). During his time in the Navy, he was

deployed all over the world and was grateful to be able to travel to so many different countries

and experience diverse cultures. His duties had him working in fire control as well as in the

carpentry shop, where he was right at home working with tools and building and repairing

things.

It was Richard’s cousin, Rita, who encouraged a classmate in nursing school, Catherine

Schreiber, to write to her cousin who was stationed on an aircraft carrier. What started out as

pen pals became a blooming long-distance romance, with Richard and Cathy getting married in

October of 1962. During the honeymoon, Richard was ordered back to the ship as part of the

Naval blockade of Cuba during the Cuban missile crisis. He would always refer to the medals he

received for this as his “honeymoon medals.”

With his playful sense of humor, he quickly became the “favorite” uncle to Cathy’s many nieces

and nephews; who were each somehow convinced that they were his most favorite as well.

Supporting and raising a family is where Richard and Cathy really shined; and it defined them

both as people. Family was always his top priority. The first few years were challenging with

frequent 6-month deployments taking Richard away from his young family, so in 1968, with 2

young children, a third on the way and 10 years of service completed, Richard and Cathy

decided it would be best for Richard to leave the Navy and take a civilian position as a service

technician for a company that sold cans and packaging cartons to the food industry.

He remained with this company through various acquisitions for about 30 years. It was this job

that transferred Richard and his family across the country to Yakima, WA in the early 70s.

While he still had to travel during the week, he was able to be home every weekend to raise the

family along with Cathy.

He coached little league, and also played catch or pitched for batting practice in the backyard.

One story comes to mind when he and his oldest son, Ken, were playing a game of catch in the

back yard called “burnout” where you keep throwing back the ball harder and harder till

someone quits from the sting of the ball in the mitt…well it only lasted a couple throws until

Richard missed a throw from his eldest son and it broke through the window into the dining

room of the family home. Fortunately, Richard was mechanically inclined enough to be able to

replace the window without too much of strain on the family budget.

Dad was an awesome teacher with great patience; he taught us all to ride bikes, swim, drive

and fix our many “junker” cars. It was a running joke that every weekend that any of the kids

came home from college, there was something that had to be fixed on their cars.

From a very young age, Richard taught all his kids to say “My dad is a mechanical genius.” He

was always tinkering with something in the garage exercising his beautiful mind. Helped us all

work on cars and whatever else could be taken apart. One of his favorite projects was restoring

a 1965 Mustang, which he let his daughter, Cheryl, drive to school her senior year. On

graduation night, he told his daughter’s friends that he was going to give his ’65 Mustang to her

for a high school graduation present, but it was actually a scale model of the Mustang in the

box, not a set of keys.

As his interests expanded to motorcycles, he bought his first Goldwing and joined the Goldwing

Road Rider’s Club, where he served as the education officer for many years, teaching

motorcycle safety. He later joined a motorcycle club through the American Legion. Going on

rides, especially as the season turns to fall was one of the things he most enjoyed.

As amazing of a person that dad was, his grandchildren would multiply everything by 100. From

letting them drive his golf cart around the back yard, to going out on the golf course just last

year, he always found time to spend with them, and really listened. The time he spent with

them, he had no guard, it exposed true happiness and laughter, and you could see the sense of

pride in his smile, and hear it in his voice.

It is often moms who get the credit for being the caregivers, but when his wife, Cathy, was

diagnosed with cancer, he was there to support her every step of the way during a 3.5-year

battle that included years of chemo and other treatments, hospital stays, and celebrating their

50 th anniversary in the skilled nursing facility where Cathy was recovering.

When he was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in fall of 2024, he did not want anything about his

prognosis to be sugar-coated. He had seen cancer up close and knew what it meant; he took a

very pragmatic approach; he wanted to face it head on and focus on what he could do in the

time he had left. He used that time to spend time with his family, set his affairs in order, and

drive around town for as long as he could, often checking the progress of the construction at

the Westwood Golf course, where he was a long-time member.

Dad’s quick wit, humor, and playful prankster personality is embedded in all of us and that will

help dad live on forever.

He is preceded in death by his wife, Catherine, his parents, Stanley and Helen, and his brother,

Stanley Jr. He is survived by his brother, Edward; his daughter, Cheryl; his sons, Kenneth, Kevin

and Mark; daughters-in-law, Kim, Shannon and Jackie; granddaughters, Kennedy and Ava; as

well as numerous cousins, and “favorite” nieces and nephews.

There will be an informal drop in gathering Thursday, October 23 rd , 4-7pm at Valley Hills funeral

home in Yakima. Funeral mass will be at St Paul’s Cathedral in Yakima on Friday, October 24 th at

10:30 am, followed by a luncheon at St Paul’s. Burial at Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent on

Monday, October 27th, at 1:00 PM