I think a lot of us thought of him as a big kid with a hairy face,long hair and tattoos.

He would bounce into work (the Annandale Care Center or a retirement home) with his cowboy hat and boots and long coat and say “Greetings Earthlings”. In the winter he would be all bundled up in his snowmobile suit and boots carrying his truck battery, wondering why he was in Minnesota.

He told us of his life in Texas, his job as a massage therapist and even brought his massage chair and gave back rubs.

He told us stories of his tattoos, his band, his strange haircuts. He loved showing all his driver’s licenses. It was a mini look at his past.

He spoke of his family in Rochester.

He had some things that he would show us, like his special watch and that it had all the phone numbers in its computer. He had a knife he was proud of. Also his CD”s and video games. He would pick up extra hours because he wanted to buy a new game. He would try to explain to us what level he had gotten to on his games and would stay up all night playing with them. He had a special bond with Sally’s son Peter, and were together often in front of the T.V.

I think we all remember coming to work and finding Steve eating his “strange lunches”. Or we would go on break and we would know Steve had been there before us as we could smell his strange foods. Sticky rice, hot sauce, summer sausage and cheese, broccoli and ranch dressing and of course, his strong tea.

He joked about his weight and had a theory that he wasn’t overweight, he was just meant to be a few inches taller.

He loved Halloween, that was his holiday---Dressing up as a haunted cowboy.

He liked paging people and using his paging voice.

He had an obsession with stethoscopes and would hunt all over until he found the right one. We had to remember he couldn’t hear too good out of one ear, and he never called it a blood pressure cuff, but always used the technical name for it.

We all saw a very tender side of Steve when he knelt down to talk to Gladys or Luella, going out of his way to help those who needed help.

He was truly a one of a kind and very unique person. He gave us all a new way of looking at the world and life.

We are better people for having the chance to know him and he will be missed. As he was a part of our family here at work...I’m happy I was able to know him and work with him, and will miss him.

Cathy T.

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