Steven A. Weller
Help us celebrate Steven! Please share your stories and photos, and invite others who remember Steven.
As the Cubs were beating the Braves 6-3 Wednesday night Steve left to see the game with his mom and dad, Reva and Harold, brother Ron and baby niece Elizabeth Henney.
He left behind to run the store his wife Kathleen (Knight), Amelia (27), Nathan (24) and his beloved cat Lewis Black. His sister Kathy, husband Fred Henney and their kids Margaret (Derek) and Matt (Ashlee and kids Grace & John Henry) are sure going to miss him. Ron's wife Kristine and daughters Jessica (kids Lila and Kirstin) and Abigail will remember Steve for always keeping them laughing. Steve's sister Mary Ellen (Donna) who shared his love for the Cubs, the Bears and IU basketball, will keep her buddy close in heart.
Steve was born March 25, 1953 in Danville, IL but grew up across the state line near Perrysville, IN. As a child Steve tromped the fields, woodlands and streams of the Wabash River Valley in west central Indiana hunting arrowheads and morels, fishing for bass and bluegill, and learning to identify the flora and fauna he observed.
Steve traded in his tromping shoes for running shoes, becoming a high school track and cross country star for North Vermillion H.S. In his senior year Steve won his school's Sectional meet, came in fourth in Regionals and missed going to State by one place.
Steve completed his Bachelor of Science degree at Huntington College (now University) and worked as an outdoor education naturalist at Forest Glen County Preserve near Westville, Illinois. By then he could identify anything that "grew, swam, walked or squawked" in the native landscape. Steve earned his Masters Degree in Science and Education at IUPU Fort Wayne (where he met Kathy) and was hired as a naturalist at Deep River Park in Lake County, Indiana.
He earned another Masters Degree (Landscape Architecture) at Kansas State, taking a job as planner at McHenry County Conservation District in the fastest growing county in Illinois northwest of Chicago. He assumed the role of Executive Director of the agency, conserving over 6,000 acres of high-quality native areas and developing 60 miles of rail trails, which connected to biking/hiking trails in the Chicago region.
After leaving the MCCD Steve began a business restoring wetlands in the Chicago area, creating wetland areas off-site to make up for those destroyed on-site by development projects. In 2004 he moved his family to Bloomington to return to his home state and be close to family and his beloved IU Hoosiers. He loved his adopted town and enjoyed its restaurants, its culture and its music. One of his favorite activities was taking driving trips through southern Indiana, exploring small towns, state parks and historic sites.
Because Steve is at peace we are at peace, flooded with all the great memories made with him. We'll celebrate his life with a picnic for family and friends at Forest Glen County Preserve when the prairie he helped plant by hand is in its blooming glory. Steve will be there in spirit, as long as we plan around the Cubs' schedule. Condolences may be left at www.DayDeremiahFrye.com Memorial donations may be made to www.sycamorelandtrust.org/donate