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John Steel
JOHN STEEL
Cedar Rapids
John N. Steel, 93, died Monday, Feb. 16, 2015, at the Dennis and Donna Oldorf Hospice of Mercy. Services: 3 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20, Cedar Memorial Westside Chapel with the Rev. Mike Andrew officiating. Burial: Bolckow Cemetery, Missouri, at a later date. Cedar Memorial Westside Chapel is in charge of the arrangements.
John Norlin Steel was born Feb. 5, 1922, to J. Robert Steel and Nelle Marie Norlin in Bedford, Iowa. He grew up on the family farm and graduated from Bedford High School in 1939. He was chosen by his high school music teacher to direct the band for one number at a concert in his senior year because he was the best student conductor. After graduation, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and signed with the National Guard in 1940. He joined the Army from 1941 to 1943, finishing his service with the infantry in December 1945.
He was united in marriage to Janice Dougan on May 10, 1946, at the Baptist church in Bedford. She died in 2002. They had one daughter, Joyce Steel Thenhaus. John moved his family to Atkins, Iowa, in 1955 to work at the state employment office in Cedar Rapids. In 1958, he transferred to the Social Security Administration, where he worked as a claims representative until retirement in December 1983.
He was a member of Atkins Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church from 1956 until his death. He loved all his church family. He was a member of the Linn County Rose Society for many years and loved growing and sharing roses from his garden. In later years, he enjoyed traveling to Colorado to visit relatives and attending reunions of the 113th Cavalry Band. He was much loved and will be missed by family and many friends.
Surviving is a daughter, Joyce Thenhaus and her fiance, JR Rupert of Cedar Rapids; nephews, Jack M. Holt of Boulder, Colo., R.L. "Larry" Holt of Cardiff, Calif., and Frank Holt of Arvada, Colo.; many other nieces and nephews; sister, Edith Dye of Carroll, Texas; and many friends from Atkins, Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church and Mount Herman Lodge in Cedar Rapids.
Memorials may be given in his name to the Atkins Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church.
Online condolences may be left at www.cedar
memorial.com under "obituaries."
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