RANTOUL — Howard Harold Steenbergen, 100, of Centerville, Ohio, passed away at home Tuesday (Sept. 11, 2018).
He was born Dec. 13, 1917, in Homer, the son of Charles Cleveland and Osa Ola (Sadler) Steenbergen; one of six sons who grew up on tenant farms in East Central Illinois. He attended a one-room school in Homer and went on to work nationally and internationally in electronic engineering for the Department of Defense for well over 40 years. After graduating from Ogden High School, he coached basketball in Penfield and worked for the FDR Rural Electrification Program and as a plumber’s apprentice at Chanute Air Force Base.
He married Patricia Buck of Penfield in 1941 shortly before entering the Army and World War II, serving in North Africa and Italy with the 3195th Signal Company.
Howard attended the University of Cincinnati and majored in engineering, after which he went to work at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, in the Avionics Laboratory. He retired from WPAFB where he was a supervisory electronic engineer in the Electronic Technology Division of the Air Force Avionics Laboratory. He was an Air Force working member of the Department of Defense Advisory Group on Electron Devices for 15 years. He was also a Defense Department representative to the Department of State for COCOM, an international organization responsible for control of critical technologies. He retired from the Department of Defense in 1976, but continued to do consulting work.
Howard was a member of the American Legion Post 598 of Kettering, and he was a member of St. Leonard’s Community of Centerville. He served as basketball coach at St. Lawrence Academy of Penfield for three years. He was an avid tennis player, skier, golfer, small-plane pilot and walked almost daily. He worked and supervised construction for Habitat for Humanity, as well as volunteering at The Dayton Art Institute. He was a member of the Greene County Transit Board and the Greene County Kiwanis Club.
Patricia preceded him in death in August 2000, as well as his parents and all five brothers.
He is survived by five children: Mary Jo (Al) Kubeluis, John Martin, James Edward and Kathy Lake, all of Ohio, and Susan (Eric) Vimr of Savoy; nine grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.
A funeral Mass will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018, at St. Lawrence Catholic Church, Penfield. Fr. Michael Menner will officiate. Burial will follow in St. Lawrence Cemetery. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Lux Memorial Chapel, 1551 E. Grove Ave., Rantoul.
In lieu of other expressions of sympathy, please consider donating to Habitat for Humanity of Dayton, daytonhabitat.org.
News-Gazette 9/14/2018
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