Gulf War Veteran leader Dies in Massachusetts: Honored With Flag at Half Staff

Gulf War Veteran Oleh Dutkewych, dies suddenly
Gulf War Veteran leader, 501st  Ordnance Battalion, USArmy, 44, Massachusetts Flags at half staff for vet, father of 4

By Mary E. Arata, [email protected]

(NASHOBA PUBLISHING/KENT BOYNTON)

HARVARD — Flags are flying at half staff in Harvard from noon on Friday, Jan. 14 through Saturday, Jan. 15 at dusk to honor the passing of US Army Persian Gulf veteran Oleh Dutkewych of Harvard.

Dutkewych, 44, of Prospect Hill Road, died unexpectedly Monday. Dutkewych leaves behind his wife, Suzanne Hazel Dutkewych, and four children — Alexandra, Nathaniel, Dmitri, and Natalia. Oleh is also survived by his parents, Oleh B. and Marta Dutkewych of Ellington, CT, Adrian Dutkewych of Jefferson, N.H., and Mark Dutkewych of Lincoln, all formerly of Harvard.

Dutkewych and his wife are both Bromfield School graduates. Dutkewych was noted in the Class of 1985 yearbook as “Best Looking” among the senior class and was a talented soccer player. He was part of the winning Bromfield Trojan soccer team that landed its second consecutive Division II title his senior year — the first time the title had been won consecutively by a school district. Dutkewych also competed in the Dual Valley and Central Massachusetts Coaches All Star teams in his senior year.  Dutkewych graduated from Norwich University in 1989 and then served in both Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm with the 501 Ordnance Battalion of the U.S. Army. He frequently participated in military ceremonies and commemorative events in town.

When contacted on Tuesday, Harvard Veterans Agent Dennis Lyddy said “I’m personally speechless. My emotions are actually overwhelming. The death of Oleh Dutkewych is a huge, huge loss to the veterans’ community for what he represented in active service in the combat zones and back in the workplace. It’s a personal loss because we’d been developing a personal relationship. I looked to him as one of our very young, solid leaders, as a veteran in the town of Harvard and the commonwealth of Massachusetts.”

“The focus from the Veterans Service Office will be to assist Mrs. Dutkewych and those four children in anything that they need in veterans’ services and veterans’ benefits and anything else they can use us for. Our hearts and prayers are going to the entire Dutkewych family at this very painful, sorrowful time.”

Dutkewych was a member of the Harvard Lions Club and participated in the organizations’ events hosted on the Hazel farm on Ayer Road. He had also coached youth soccer at Ryan Field.  Dutkewych worked for the past four years as an assistant vice president with Morgan Stanley’s Worcester office in wealth management for corporate executives of public and private companies. He previously was an assistant vice president at Smith Barney for six years. Prior to that, Dutkewych served for eight years as a financial adviser at Merrill Lynch.

Visiting hours will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 14, at Saint Benedict Abbey, 252 Still River Road in Harvard. A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 15, at St. John Church, 80 Union St., Clinton. Burial services will follow at Bellevue Cemetery in Harvard.

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