By Josh Farley, Kitsap Sun

BREMERTON, Wash. — He was a man of ministry, music and medicine.

Terrill “Terry” Olsen, a Bremerton eye surgeon who never stopped helping people see nor ceased singing in the Sylvan Way Baptist Church choir, died Sept. 16 from complications of coronary artery disease. The Albert Lea High School graduate was 75.

“He’s been a steady and stalwart member of the medical community,” said Paul Kremer, a fellow ophthalmologist who worked with Olsen for more than two decades. “He brought a tremendously high level of care to Kitsap County.”

Brought to Bremerton by the Navy to serve as a medical officer on the USS Sacramento in 1967, he and Sherri, his wife of 50 years, would soon return after his discharge.

An ophthalmologist trained by the Mayo Clinic, he set up shop in 1972 on Pacific Avenue. He later moved to offices in East Bremerton, near Harrison Medical Center, and finally to Silverdale in 2008, but he never retired.

In the early days of his practice, Olsen, like other doctors, was called to the emergency room for anything.

“Being an eye surgeon meant you had to deliver babies or fix broken bones in the ER in those days,” Kremer said.

He was among the first surgeons in the county to implant artificial lenses in the eye to correct ailments like cataracts. As medical specialization increased, Olsen kept learning, becoming adept at laser eye surgery. If he did not have an answer, he’d do the research or ask colleagues.

“He never left any stone unturned,” Kremer said.

Olsen had patients he’d seen since the 1970s.

Among them was Fred Leist, a retired plastic surgeon. A week before his death, Olsen treated Leist.

“He was hard-working, very honest, very skilled and very knowledgeable,” Leist said. “Doctors chose him (for care) because he spent as much time as was necessary to help his patients.”

The week of his death, Olsen took Leist to the parking lot at Achieve Eye & Laser Specialists in Silverdale, showing off his three-wheeled motorcycle.

Along with ministry, music and medicine, Olsen loved machines — particularly those motorcycles he rode to and from his family’s getaway near Lake Chelan, even in winter.

He often could be found on a racquetball court at Kitsap Tennis & Athletic Center or in Bible study at his Sylvan Way church. His family and his faith kept him strong, Sherri said.

“He enjoyed life to the fullest,” she said.

And, yes, he had a great love of music. He supported the Bremerton Symphony for years, serving on its board from 1998 to 2004, and sang in his church choir at Sylvan Way Baptist Church and one near Lake Chelan. Olsen and his wife often sang together, performing in choirs and the local symphony chorale.

He took more time off in recent years but worked the whole week before he died. Not feeling well in early September, he drove himself to urgent care. His condition worsened and doctors at Harrison attempted a bypass, but he did not survive. He died Sept. 16.

Sherri Olsen said she’s confident her husband believed in the doctors who tried to save him.

“We had total faith in the cardiac center,” she said. “It was just his time to go.”

His family is working with the Harrison Medical Center Foundation to place a plaque in Olsen’s honor in the healing garden at the hospital’s planned expanded Silverdale campus.

Olsen is survived by Sherri, with whom he celebrated 50 years of marriage this year; sons Christopher (Linda) of Silverdale, Gregory of Kirkland and Timothy (Rachel) of Bremerton; one grandson, Jordan; and four siblings.

In the spirit of his passions, the family asks that memorial donations go to the Sylvan Way Baptist Church, the Bremerton Symphony Association or to the Harrison Medical Center Foundation.