David Olson, Unit Commissioner and long-time Troop 3570 volunteer, has passed away.
After a four year battle with prostate cancer, Dave Olson passed away peacefully on June 23rd. Dave’s family asked that we share how much he treasured the friendships and his work in scouting.
Dave is survived by his wife, Lisa, and sons Peter and Tim (both of whom earned the rank of Eagle Scout with Dave’s support and encouragement).
Dave’s full obituary can be found at:
Listed below is an excerpt for Dave’s Silver Beaver nomination, which he was awarded in 2017.
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David Olson, one of Lake Minnetonka District’s unit commissioners, was named a 2017 Silver Beaver Award recipient in Northern Star Council.
David was heavily involved as a unit volunteer for Troop 570 in Plymouth. He served as a merit badge counselor, camping coordinator, and assistant Scoutmaster. He also revamped their unit record system. He attended nearly every camping and high adventure outing. At the district level David offers his Scouting expertise as a unit commissioner and serves on the activities committee. In addition to his unit and district activities David serves as a merit badge counselor for the Scoutmaster Bucky advancement program.
Dave has been involved with Scouting since his own boyhood in rural North Dakota. He felt it had a very positive impact on his life, and indeed some his first service projects may have been through his membership in Order of the Arrow. In the late 1970’s, Dave became a Unit Commissioner for the Northern Lights Council where we lived in Fargo, ND.
In addition to his volunteer work with Scouting, Dave served on the Board of Directors for the Lake Wapogasset Lutheran Bible Camp. Dave volunteered with the Xcel Energy sponsored Youthcare/Camp Sunrise, focused on bringing together inner-city youth from diverse ethnic, racial, and cultural backgrounds to live and work in an outdoor community. He has also volunteered as a mentor for the Wayzata robotics team and continued to volunteer with the the Regional FIRST Robotics tournaments, where he inspects the incoming robots and helps the students resolve any problems that might prevent their robot from qualifying for the tournament. He as also been a volunteer as a Red Cross Disaster Action Team Responder. In this position, he responds to emergencies such as house and apartment fires where families have been displaced and are in need of assistance and/or financial resources to get through the initial 24-48 hours.