Charles Olmstead

LCDR (Ret) USN Charles Olmstead passed away in the early morning hours of March 3, 2018. He was 93. Better known to many of his friends as “Chuck,” he is survived by his 3 children and their spouses: Robin and Mary Beth Olmstead of Shalimar, Fl., Laurie and Mike Yankoski of Parker, CO, and Kippen and Mary Olmstead of Pensacola Beach, FL. He has 8 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. He was a resident of Pensacola for over 45 years. For the past 4 1/2 years, he was a resident of Brookdale Senior Living in Ft. Walton Beach.

Charles was born in Oswego, NY. He enlisted in the V-5 Aviation Cadet Program in Syracuse, NY on Dec. 7, 1942. He was designated a Naval Aviator and commissioned an Ensign in Pensacola on August 12, 1944. He served during WWII, the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, and retired at age 44 after 26 years in the Naval Reserve. Charles had over 20 years active duty. One of his favorite duty stations was NAS Barbers Point, Oahu, Hawaii. He flew with the GMGRU 1 squadron there working with Regulus 1 guided missiles. His last duty station was as Chief Test Pilot at the Naval Air Rework Facility, NAS Pensacola. In this capacity, he was flying 10 different prop and jet aircraft. He had over 5,000 hours of flight time in single seat Naval aircraft.

After his retirement from the Navy, Chuck worked for the Westinghouse Nuclear Components Division as a quality control inspector in the maintenance and calibration of critical gauges and equipment used to assure the proper fabrication and assembly of the reactor vessel internals. After approximately 10 years, he joined the quality assurance engineering field group, which was assigned to assure the proper fit-up, assembly, and installation of these reactor internals into its reactor vessel at the assigned nuclear power plant. A good portion of his time was spent at the power plants in Spain, Belgium, Sweden, Yugoslavia, South Korea, and the Philippines. In addition, he worked at approximately one dozen nuclear plants under construction in the United States.

After his retirement as a Senior Quality Assurance/Reliability Engineer in 1986, he rounded out his professional career with consultant and inspection work for various projects with Westinghouse, Gilbert Commonwealth, SGS Services, and Inchcape Testing.

Services and burial will be by Bayview Fisher Pou Chapel, Pensacola. Viewing is 2-3PM on Sat., March 10th. Services and burial at Bayview begin at 3:00 PM. In lieu of flowers, you may make a donation in Charles' name to the American Heart Association or Emerald Coast Hospice of Ft. Walton Beach.