David Michael Bolda

SCARBOROUGH – David Michael Bolda died at home in Scarborough, on Dec. 13, 2025, due to congestive heart failure. He was born Nov. 12, 1951, in Alexandria, Va., the son of Frank J. Bolda and Catherine E. Hynes Bolda. The family moved north when David was five, and he attended grade school in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., before moving to Raleigh, N.C., in 1966.

David was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy in 1969 and transferred to North Carolina State University as a Thomas J. Watson Scholar, graduating in 1973. After extended travel in Europe he returned to North Carolina and worked in the Research Triangle area before entering the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, School of Public Health. He completed his Master of Science in Public Health in 1978 and began his career as an industrial hygienist with the Vermont Department of Health, VOSHA program. In Vermont, he met and later married (1987) Elise L. Johnston (Lisa) in Montpelier.

In 1984, David and Lisa moved to Hillsborough/Durham, N.C., where David passed his CIH exam and worked with three consulting groups, PES, ELB, and EI. David continued his pastimes of racquet sports, golfing, and windsurfing. He only had to be rescued by the Coast Guard once.

In 1995, they moved to Maine and David continued to work with EI before taking a job with SafetyWorks at the Maine Department of Labor in 1999. After his retirement in 2011, David volunteered and participated as a learner with the Goodwill LifeWorks Program for several years.

As friends from David’s UNC lads group say, Dave led a complicated life. He lived with bipolar disorder that he managed with medication and a few inpatient stays; Parkinson’s, which took a toll on many of his functions yet spared his good humor and capabilities in many other ways; and scoliosis, which caused episodic and sometimes severe back pain. David was ever grateful for his team of caring clinicians (Karen Dmytrasz /Stacey Farrington, Emily Erickson, Bernard Gordon, Aline Iskandar/Leana Thomas, William Jeanblanc/Heather Emerson, and the amazing Oliver Phillips) and his therapists (the magical Bill Anderson and Tess Boyle, Emma Holder, Bonnie Topham, Amy and Cody). David greatly appreciated the strong arms and caring hearts of JP Phaneuf, man of many talents, the stellar women who provided care 24/7 (Amie, Becky, Bella, Gabrielle, Jewel, Krista, Lauren and Ribka), the wonderful nurses and shower aces from Northern Lights Home Health and Hospice, and Chef Zoe.

David was locally known as the Millipede Whisperer, due to his hours and skill at this video game. He first played it in the ‘80s at a Durham arcade. His family bought him the machine for his 40th birthday. He set this year’s best score – over 49,000 – on his birthday.

David is survived by his wife, Lisa, and their cat Bert; younger sister, Suzanne Neal (Tom) of Appleton, Wis., and their family in Minneapolis, Minn.; son, Tom Neal (Megan Powell) granddaughter Margot; and daughter, Michelle Naylor (William) and grandchildren Hakon and Signe; and in Milwaukee, Wis., daughter Mary Turek and grandson Wesley. He is also survived by his youngest sister, Cheryl Toole (Bob) and son Shane Toole of Raleigh. Other survivors are his sister-in-law, Anna Johnston in North Carolina; nephew, Christopher Monte, who lived with David and Lisa in North Carolina, and Peter Monte (the nephew he most enjoyed trouncing at racquetball) and their families in North Carolina and Texas; sister-in-law, Francine Johnston in Massachusetts, and nephews Demian and Morgan Johnston and their families in Connecticut.

David was predeceased by his brother, Donald F. Bolda; his mother, Catherine, and father, Frank, his Johnston in-laws, Morna, Herbie and Gregory; and his canine companions Jeeves, Nigel, Riley, Rex, and Earnest Tucker Bolda.

He will be remembered as a witty, kind and gentle man.

David’s cremains will be interred at the Middlesex Center Cemetery in Vermont.

He would want you to save your money, but if you are so inclined, memorial contributions can be sent to: Parkinson’s Voice Project https://parkinsonvoiceproject.org/donate/ in honor of his steadfast Speech Pathologist, Tess Boyle SLP