Steve Hess Family

Steven Hess

b. 10 July 1954

Married: 24 May 1974

Linda Susanne Hess (nèe Amsbaugh)

b. 25 May 1954

 

Steve, Linda, Alicia, Lorna, Grandma

Steve’s memories

I  was born in Tokyo Japan July 10, 1954 in the Army Hospital while Dad was stationed over there. Mom came over from California on a ship while she was pregnant with me. I have lots of pictures and things from Japan I keep around all time. Someday I will go back, I want to walk up Mount Fuji.

The first thing I remember is riding in a car in the back seat and Mom and Dad talking about how I was going to be called Jasper, but my Grandma Koehler would not let them. I had no idea if I liked Jasper or not, but I was already Steve. I never met my Grandpa Hess, he died in the flu epidemic in 1918 while my Dad was just 2.

I remember Mom and Dad asking me if I wanted a brother or sister. I got one anyway, Greg was born in Germany. I remember going to kindergarten in Germany. I remember lots of Munich, Germany, like the gliders, and the sheepherder in the back field that Mom used to give cigarettes to. Mom traded cigarettes for paintings, a grandfather clock, a grandmother clock, Dresden figurines and hummels. I remember in Germany during Christmas everyone painted murals on their windows. That looked magical to me, like a giant nativity calendar. Once during Halloween I jumped on the back of the hay wagon in the vicinity and before I knew it I was scared I could not find Mom. That was the last time I left home on my own, I remember. Mom and Dad won a huge teddy bear at the NCO club as a door prize. We danced at the NCO club, the jitter bug, to the juke box.

Mom pulled us around in a huge wooden sled that looked like a sleigh. We went to the Brussels World’s Fair, and I remember that giant jack that looked so odd; how could it be anything anyone could go in?  I remember freezing in the sleeping blanket where we stayed in a cottage near the fair. Mom had a parakeet, she had cut his wings and I remember him trying to fly around the house. I used to polish Dad’s shoes and I would be sure and polish the sole, too. I can still remember the ship we sailed and can remember watching Bambi with Mom at the theater on board.

I went to first grade in Wisconsin. Dad was stationed at Fort Sheridan. We had a trailer; I can still remember learning my ABCs there, coming home to watch the Three Stooges and having to go to bed right when Route 66 was starting. Mom ironed my pajamas once before I put them on and that’s the best warmth I ever remember. Still had to go to bed though. Got the mumps there and had to stay in bed during the middle of the day. That was a bummer cause I could hear kids playing outside. I went to Catholic school in second grade. Got my first ant farm, learned how to ice skate and swallowed a bullet. The doctor said it would come out in the end. I never saw it. Hmmm…

I got a snow shovel for Christmas and dug a snow fort. I can still remember getting called into dinner.

Went to 3^rd, 4^th grade in England. We lived near Stonehenge. Mom taught me to read. I taught Greg how to ride a bike. Climbed trees and liked to stop fast and lay rubber on my bike. The teacher at school had a dog that lay under the desk and we would take walks in the park. I remember being downtown Picadilly Circus with Mom and she had our pet poodle Mitzi with us. We had to kill some time, so she took Mitzi and I into the movie theater. I thought that was gonna get into trouble but she hid him under her coat.

I flew out of  England’s Hethrow Airport and lived with my Grandma and Grandpa Koehler in Peoria, Illinois where I got my first library card. I learned how to tell time by tracing circles around a drinking glass onto brown paper bags. Dad sold a lot of stuff, I can remember it all laid out on the table and being priced. Grandpa liked to fish and I learned how to clean fish.

We went to live upstairs in a two story house in Peoria where we would put our crayons in the hot ducts coming up thru the floor and watch them melt. Long cold walks to school.

Then we moved to Chicago, where we walked to school and there for one year Greg and I were in the same school at the same time. So we would hang out together in the school yard. I enjoyed coming home to watch Bozo the Clown for lunch. Went to summer school one year just for something to do, pretty geeky. Dad had a Karmanghia and taught me to steer on the trips back and forth to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Peoria.

I went to San Franciso, California to live with my Aunt Mary and Uncle Ed Radloff.  I went to the rest of elementary and all of middle school there. Went to Catholic catchechism at night after regular school and got confirmed as a Catholic. I went back to Chicago on the train once to see Greg and Dad for the summer. I had a friend with a mini bike. I learned I liked mini bikes. We would always go to see Grandma O’Riordan for a few weeks in the summer in Sonoma and trim peach trees and go to the hot springs. Lots of memories of taking the cable car to Chinatown. I helped my cousin with his paper route, joined the Boy Scouts and played football with the PAL.

Then we moved to Hillsdale, Michigan and went to high school. I studied tool and die and drafting. I joined the gymnastics team and was a specialist on the still rings and the parallel bar. I worked at Big Boy and bought my first car: a silver Olds F85.  I my my wife Linda in Hillsdale. After high school graduation I tried to get a job as a tool and die maker apprentice but they were not hiring. I proposed to Linda and I joined the Army.

I was stationed in Ft. Knox, Kentucky for basic. My specialty was refrigeration repairman. I went to Ft. Belvoire Washington to learn the trade. Got stationed in Ft. Ord, California at the hospital on base. We stayed there for two years after we got married. Then I got stationed in Furth, Germany and Linda and I stayed there a year.

Linda and I both got our international drivers license and I bought a Karmanghia and then a little Fiat. We lived in an old flat and then moved to a nice German house with an upstairs apartment. The landlord was a retired German tank captain in the war. Then I applied to Michigan State and got accepted.

I left the Army as a Spec 4 and moved to Spartan apartments (married housing) at Michigan State University in Lansing and went to school there for one year. Then I moved to Seaside, California and worked at Restaurants Central as their kitchen equipment and refrigeration repairman for a year to get my state residency.

I applied to California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California and moved to Morro Bay. I got my real estate license and sat on open house and did my homework. I can read by looking at the page. It’s like a picture to me. Worked at a Radio Shack store as a manager. Graduated and got a job offer in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Got an offer with Memorex in San Jose, too, but did not want to be a facilities engineer before I had a chance to become a consulting engineer.

I got a job at Progressive Engineering, bought a house in Grand Rapids and later became the Mechanical Department manager at The Design Forum. I bought a Honda Night Hawk which was a really good bike and later sold it and bought a HD Sportster. Dad liked Cadillacs and so I bought his old one. Had a baby daughter, Alicia. Got my Professional Engineers license. Learned how to almost play the guitar. I have a dobro and an electric but I think I like my acoustic best.

Later, we moved to Toledo, Ohio to take a job with SSOE GROUP which has a lot of opportunity world- and nation-wide. I work on projects and with people all over the country and do lots of travel. We bought a house in south Toledo.

I am just an average white guy. 5’9″ in my boots. Brown hair, brown eyes. I wear glasses for nearsightedness. I have my Mom’s hay fever and my Dad’s psoriasis. I like the History Channel and to me documentaries are entertainment. I like art and museums and music. I like water I think most of all. Oceans, rivers, falls, pools. Sunsets are a close second.

My favorite foods are Linda’s nachos, pizza, prime rib, BBQ ribs. Scott’s chili is pretty good too (Scott and Sonya host a chili dinner every year).