Great Falls lost one of its most accomplished residents March 28 when Charles Olin, a retired U.S. Marine who spearheaded creation of Turner Farm Observatory Park in Great Falls, died at age 89.
“Charles loved astronomy and he wanted others to learn about it,” said Supervisor John Foust (D-Dranesville). “Quite simply, without Charles’ vision, there would be no observatory park.”
Olin and his wife, Jacque, founded the Analemma Society in 1998 and shortly afterward established Turner Farm’s observatory. Charles Olin contacted the U.S. Department of the Interior and asked that officials transfer the former Nike-missile-control site to the Fairfax County Park Authority.
The site also formerly had been used by the Army Map Service to spot suitable locations for moon landings and was where Defense Mapping Agency employees helped developed technology for the Global-Positioning System.
The Olins in 2011 received the Park Authority’s Elly Doyle Park Service Award after having been nominated by Foust.
“Where others saw defunct Cold War missile silos, the Olins saw the chance to engage the public and expand the educational opportunities for children and adults through the science of astronomy,” Foust told the former Sun Gazette Newspapers in 2016.
The Park Authority in October 2016 unveiled the park’s roll-top observatory. Olin rhapsodized about the capabilities of one of the site’s telescopes, a 16-inch Meade Newtonian.
“I think it’s absolutely mind-boggling to look through that telescope,” he said then. “When I first saw Andromeda through that scope, I said, ‘Wow!’”
Timothy Hackman, who represents Dranesville District on the Fairfax County Park Authority’s board of directors, said he had been amazed by the continued dedication of the Olins, their Analemma Society colleagues and a handful of knowledgeable volunteers in offering astronomy-related classes and star-gazing opportunities at Observatory Park.
“These have become wildly popular, with over 4,000 attendees in 2022 at those various offerings,” Hackman said. “I’ve taken my own grandsons there from the time the rolltop opened, and seen them rapt with interest at what they are seeing and learning. The lights are not only in the heavens, but in their minds as well.”
Olin was born April 25, 1933, in Niagara Falls, N.Y., to Col. Charles Olin and Jeannette Olin. The young Charles Olin developed a passion for astronomy and continued his education in various locales while his parents fulfilled military commitments before and during World War II.
Following the war, Olin traveled via ocean liner to Hawaii and Europe with his parents, and spent two years in London, where he began drawing and painting, his family said.
Olin earned a bachelor’s degree in physics at Dickinson College, where he met his future wife, Jacqueline. They married in 1955.
After college, Olin directly was commissioned into the U.S. Marine Corps as a second lieutenant. He spent four years in the Marines and earned a final rank of captain. During his service, he studied advanced weaponry systems, was a guided-missile officer, led tank maneuvers through the desert at Marine Corps base 29 Palms in Southern California and served in the honor guard at 8th and I Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C.
Following his military service, Olin studied fine arts under a fellowship at Cornell University, then obtained a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship and moved to New York City to study art conservation at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.
Upon graduating from NYU, the Smithsonian Institution invited Olin to establish and develop multiple conservation programs. Olin helped found the U.S. National Museum’s Conservation Analytical Laboratory (now the Museum Conservation Institute), the National Collection of Fine Arts Conservation Lab (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum Lunder Center) and the Conservation Lab at the National Portrait Gallery.
Olin conserved exhibits for two major museum openings at the Smithsonian and established analytical processes and developed programs for the training of future conservators.
He departed the Smithsonian in 1971 to establish a private painting-conservation studio in Great Falls. Olin in 1983 incorporated the practice as Olin Conservation Inc., which served private, institutional and museum clients across the nation. Olin continued to train art conservators, including his son, David, who continues the work of Olin Conservation Inc.
Olin often gave lectures on art conservation, forgery and connoisseurship. He helped conserve many well-known art collections; among the most famous paintings he conserved was “Luncheon of the Boating Party,” by Impressionist artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
Olin was an avid gardener and amateur naturalist, dedicated bow hunter and trapper, and lover of classical music and opera. He also played on numerous championship teams with the Washington Area Dart Association, enjoyed making wine from grapes grown at local vineyards and liked to cook.
Olin was an accomplished sailor and loved taking to the seas in his beloved Hinkley Pilot 35, “Betelgeux.” He also served with the Great Falls Volunteer Fire Department and became an EMT.
David Olin said his father’s intellectual curiosity inspired all aspects of his life’s passions, from bird watching to conservation.
“My father really taught me reasoning and the value of observation and empirical evidence,” he said.
Olin is survived by his wife, Jacqueline Olin; daughter Deborah Norris; son David Olin; granddaughters Jessie Taylor and Jacque Hernandez; grandson Jon Norris; great-granddaughters Avery and Livia Taylor; and great-grandson Monte Taylor.
His family and the Analemma Society will hold a memorial service for Olin on May 21 at 2 p.m. at Turner Farm Observatory Park, 925 Springvale Road in Great Falls. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Analemma Society by visiting www.analemma.org.
Olin will be interred at a future date at Arlington National Cemetery.
