Remembering Eugene (Gene) and Dorothy Osolinsky
Eugene (Gene) Osolinsky was born on May 23rd, 1929 in Old Forge, Pennsylvania. While those at St. Nicholas knew him as Gene, to his bowling buddies, colleagues at Ft. Belvoir, and fellow Washington Redskins season ticket holders he was always affectionately known as “Ozzie”. As a child of the depression, he began to help his family to pay bills at the age of ten by delivering newspapers.
After graduating from Old Forge High School at seventeen in 1946, while waiting to be accepted into the United States Army, he worked for two years at a woman’s undergarment manufacturing center, cleaning up after the women at the sewing machines. He later remembered being kept quite busy trying to keep up with the scraps left all over the floor after the sewing!
Gene joined the army in 1948, and served for three years during the Korean War. His father’s near-death in a mine collapse brought him home on leave at just the time when so many of his fellow soldiers were sent to the front in Korea, which quite possibly saved his life.
In late 1950, his last assignment brought him to Ft. Belvoir in Virginia. Knowing absolutely no one in the Washington area, and having no car, he was looking for an Orthodox church. He opened the Yellow Pages to find St. Nicholas Church, then located on Church St. in Northwest. He had to take public transportation downtown to attend Liturgy on Sundays.
Dorothy (Mihalik) Osolinsky was born on October 25th, 1928 in Pittsburgh. She graduated from Braddock High School in 1946, and did her undergraduate studies at Carlow University in Pittsburgh, then called Mount Mercy College. She graduated in 1950 with a Bachelor’s Degree in History. She did her graduate studies at Columbia University in New York, graduating in 1953 with a Master’s Degree in Political Science.
In 1954, Dorothy came to Washington, DC to await her government security clearance and prepare for a federal career. She was also looking for a church, and was brought to St. Nicholas by her friends Bob and Ludy Trbovich, long-time parishioners of St. Nicholas. She began work at the Library of Congress in 1955, where she met Fr. Paul Lutov. Within a six-year period, she also worked for the Air Rescue Service, the State Department, and NASA.
Gene and Dorothy became acquainted in 1957 at church. In those days, everything was closed on Sundays and young adults at St. Nicholas had nowhere to socialize after the service. A generous parishioner had the habit of inviting them to his home in Falls Church for socials, and it was there that they met.
After a two-year courtship, they were married on May 30th, 1959 in Pittsburgh. After two years in Alexandria, they bought a home in Springfield where they raised two children, Eugenia (Genie) and Daniel.
Gene continued his civilian career at Fr. Belvoir at the Belvoir Research and Development Center for over 35 years. He worked and truly thrived as a highly respected public affairs officer until his retirement in 1987. His responsibilities for creating and overseeing exhibits and writing speeches won several awards and commendations, and brought him much joy, as did Dorothy’s role as full-time mother.
During these years, the Osolinskys were active parishioners at St. Nicholas, raising their children there. Gene took the collection every week for the Slavonic Liturgy and counted the money afterwards, while Dorothy taught Sunday School from 1975 to 1980 under the direction of Helen Hudak and Michael Shandor. Both helped in various capacities with the Bazaars, from making salads at the request of the Bazaar chair to washing dishes and knock down at the end.
Gene and Dorothy, also the proud grandparents of Rebecca and Timothy Shires, were married for 51 years until Dorothy fell asleep in the Lord on November 30, 2010 at the age of 82. Gene fell asleep in the Lord on July 27, 2013 at the age of 84.
May their memory be eternal!
