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Steve has been a huge part of my life. We have been friends since junior high. We rented a house together when he first
started volunteering with Point Defiance and the Woodland Park Zoo. We bought a house together in 2000, after he started on
the Keiko project. My girlfriend moved in about a year ago and Steve really thought a lot of her. Steve was like a brother
to me and with her we became kind of a family. Steve and I had talked sometimes about what we would do when we retired. We
wanted to start a small restaurant somewhere with a really cool bar. I guess Steve was kind of my hetero life-partner. He
bugged the shit out of me sometimes when he would leave a Jack-in the Box cup on the counter above the garbage can for days
and never actually throw it away, or, after a few beers, go off on Bush rant, loudly, while I was trying to watch Meet the
Press. Then when he finished, repeat the whole thing over again.
Steve always loved cooking for people. When
we volunteered for the NMML fur seal project in the Pribilof Islands, after several weeks of long days and hard work, everybody
was getting burned out and pissy. One day most of the crew went back to the field station while a few stayed to finish surveys.
Steve and I broke into our huge supply of food that we had brought and made pizzas for everyone. We also broke into the two
cases of wine that we had brought and kept the bottles coming. With everyone sufficiently “happy” we hid all the
trucks and sat outside the common area giggling when the rest of the crew came back and read the note that we had gone camping
and would be back in a couple of days. The next day one of the Australians, an Australian, and was broken and just slept on
the truck the whole day. That was bit of a point of pride for us.
My life will be poorer without him. He was there
at almost all of the major points of my life. I will miss him like one of my own limbs. more. Too many stories to tell. It
would read like my own life story. There is no way to express how much I will miss him. - Frank Sommers
Dear family,
I am Christine Stein Lewis - youngest daughter of the late Louis and Gwen Stein, a great aunt and uncle
of Stephen. What a remarkable young man - your Stephen. I am sad for you at this shocking news - you will
all too soon realize he has left you with so many wonderful memories of his life here on earth.
Time passes quickly for
us all - I lost my son-in-law, 42 yrs of age, in Dallas six months ago and it was a struggle at first to get thru the months
with my daughter and grandson, but God gives comfort, blessings, friends "both old and new".
There is nothing I can say
to ease the pain for you - just to know you are prayed for and with during this time. hugs and love from a cousin
in Houston, - Christine Stein Lewis
Today is the first day of the rest of your
life - make the most of it!
I have started to write this a few times but haven’t been able to find words to adequately express how much Stephen
will be missed. I only knew him for a few years, but like many of us that was more than enough time to rack up lots of good
memories…the dance party on the flying bridge of the Mac, trudging through the snow in Astoria, and sharing the agony
of being a Seahawks fan just to name a few. But what I will remember most is the joy he brought to everything he did whether
it was a great whale encounter or something as mundane as organizing samples…he really could make just about anything
fun. He laughed from deep down in his gut and was never afraid to be silly. I will miss him as a shipmate, coworker, but mostly
as a friend. - Candi Emmons
I met Stephen a few years ago through a close mutual friend over a beer, what better way to meet someone? Somehow
we never managed to get into the field together, sadly, but I am pleased to have spent most of my quality time with Stephen
in the kitchen (thanks Greg, for the kitchen!), sharing stories of food service jobs from our former lives before we were
discovered by whales. My memories of Stephen, and there aren’t nearly enough of them, all smiles and all
laughing, great food and good friends…- Erin Falcone
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An Email from Stephen while he was working in Thailand:
Hello Karen,
Supervisor????? Oh my god you’ve become an adult! When did this
happen? I’m just pulling
your leg, congratulations! Now I
suppose you’re going boss me around when I get down there. Just
to make your
job easier, I’m going to teach the sea lions to
ignore certain commands, bite the trainer on others and always
maul
children when possible. Actually Omar has the ignore
certain ones down lately. It seems that I was being too soft on
him.
As soon as I started being stern with him he seems to have
shaped up but he’s still a work in progress. He is taking
over
the alpha role from Franco. Franco has size on Omar but appears
to lack the aggression to stay top dog. Omar has
plenty.
I’m glad that you are leaving on good terms. Always better not
to burn bridges. I am also happy that Shouka
now has companions.
As tempting as their offer of whale supervisor might be, I agree
with your assessment that it would
be rather difficult to deal
with in the circumstances you have told me.
I just made a trip down south to Malaysia yesterday
to renew my
tourist visa for Thailand. I took a crowded tourist van that
picked me up at 04:30 and dropped me off back
at my hotel at
21:30. So many hours of fun. All of that for ten minutes in
Malaysia, sheesh! The driver went at about
80mph the whole way,
weaving in and out of heavy traffic. On the way back, we were
running late for the six o’clock
ferry so he went even faster
then. It was like when we were going to phuket in the taxi ride
from hell but that experience
on steroids. We just narrowly
missed 81 children, 216 adults, 1314 dogs, 5000 motorbikes, 17
cement trucks and many
other vehicles too numerous to count.
There was a bomb explosion down south the day after I did the
run. It was nowhere
near where I was but I’m sure security would
have been lots of fun at the border.
I hope you have a good two weeks
at home. I’m jealous as it
looks like straight to St. Thomas from here for me, (boo-hoo). I
am hoping to resume
the killer whale research cruises I did last
year come spring and the southeast fisheries stuff again in
summer. Maybe
Peter will let me come and go as I please like
Jeff does, Ha! Not gonna happen.
Anyway, I look forward to seeing you
again and undermining your
authority by telling made up nasty stories to the other staff
behind your back. As I always
say: I’M HELPING!
Love-
Stephen
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