Family newsletter · March 2008

Text from this newsletter. Some columns and spacing may read differently from the printed pages.

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Steiner Family Newsletter March 2008 Volume 2, Issue 2


Fred with Grandpa Nelson on a spring day in Americus, Indiana
Fred with his son, Jon
He was born Sidney Frederick Steiner, but sometime when he was young he took him middle name as his first. Born September 24, 1916 Died October 25, 1966 (lung cancer) Cemetery Bunnell, Frankfort, Indiana Profession Nickle Plate Railroad Rip Track Foreman Wife Alice Grace Young Born August 30, 1918 Married December 31, 1939
The inscription on the back of this photo was from Edith Steiner - 10/18/1944 “Fred’s proud moment like his dad was with him”
Jon laughing with mom, Alice
Steve and big brother, Jon
Uncle Fred swinging a nephew as Janie Steiner and Cindy Kemery want a turn. Looks like Tony Troxell reading in the chair while David Troxel and Ginny Sue Steiner are on the couch.
Steve sitting proudly with his dad
Fred and Alice Steiner Dad and Mom
Fred and his young son’s, Steve and Jon
Jon, Fred and Steve Steiner in downtown Frankfort.

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Grandchildren of Jon and Joan Steiner Great Grandchildren of Fred and Alice Steiner Skaggs Great Great grandchildren of Harry and Edith Steiner Jaylon Burgess Steiner (3) – 1/11/2005 <Son of Jason and Jessica Steiner>
Jon Frederick Steiner Born December 17, 1943 Profession Teacher/Photographer Wife Joan Rosenberger Born November 29, 1945 Profession Teacher Married July 20, 1968 Steven Ayers Steiner Born May 17, 1947 Profession Teacher/Photographer Wife Arlene Papay Born January 28, 1945 Profession Teacher Married May 31, 1969
Jon Frederick Steiner Steven Ayers Steiner
Family faces are mirrors. Looking at the people who belong to us, we see the past, present and future.

Children of Jon and Joan Steiner Grandchildren of Fred and Alice Steiner Skaggs Great grandchildren of Harry and Edith Steiner Jeffrey Jon – 12/8/1970 James Thomas – 1/12/1972 Jason Burgess – 5/18/1973 (Spouse – Jessica – 11/26/1978 Married – ?/?/????) Justin Ayers – 12/5/1976
Children of Jon and Joan Steiner Grandchildren of Fred and Alice Steiner Skaggs Great grandchildren of Harry and Edith Steiner Michelle Lynn - 11/24/1972 (Spouse – Patrick Herrold – 1/14/1973 Married – 7/29/1997) Scott Andrew – 4/25/1976 (Spouse – Shelly – 6/4/1977 Married – 6/23/2001) Stephanie Marie – 2/4/1979 Grandchildren of Steve and Arlene Steiner Great Grandchildren of Fred and Alice Steiner Skaggs Great Great grandchildren of Harry and Edith Steiner Nicholas Stephen Herrold (9) – 12/14/1998 Michael Charles Herrold (6) – 1/25/2002 <Sons of Shelly and Patrick Herrold> Emily Jean Steiner (1) – 8/5/2006 Allison Jane Steiner (1) – 8/5/2006 <Twin Daughters of Scott and Shelly Steiner>

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Frederick Sidney Steiner was the oldest of eleven children. He was born in Americus, Indiana at his grandparent’s home (Nelson). His father and mother were tenet farmers on the VanNatta farm near Battleground, Indiana. When Fred was eleven in 1927, his family moved to Lafayette, Indiana where his father found employment at the Lafayette Coal and Ice Company. While his younger brothers and sisters became baptized in the St. James Lutheran Church and attended the church school, Fred did not. He wanted to wait until later in life to join the church of his future wife. Fred attended Centennial School where he played sports and was on the seventh and eighth grade basketball teams. After graduating from Centennial, he enrolled at Jefferson High School and took on part time employment. When he was sixteen, he quit high school and went to work full time to help support the family. In 1933 he joined the *W.P.A. Then at age 19, he left Lafayette and traveled to Texas. There he worked in a factory that made boxes to ship fruit. He would send his extra pay back home to the family. In the fall of 1936, Fred returned to Lafayette upon his father’s death and assumed the responsibility as the head of the family. He was given his father’s job at the local coal and ice company. One evening in 1938, he met Alice Grace Young on a blind date. She had gone to Lafayette from Frankfort with a girlfriend who had arranged for Fred and Alice to meet. They dated for a little over a year and married December 31, 1939. Fred was baptized at the Alice’s church, Frankfort Presbyterian Church, and was married by her brother who was a Presbyterian minister. Fred’s brother, Tom Steiner, was best man. A few weeks before the wedding, Fred was laid off from the Peerless Wire Company. He and Alice moved to Frankfort and lived with Alice’s mother while he looked for work. Soon after moving to Frankfort, he developed severe diabetes. No one could understand how this young healthy man could be stricken with Type I Diabetes all of a sudden. Doctors put him immediately on insulin and instructed him to change his whole life style. Many years later, his diabetes was contributed to a careless operation procedure to remove his appendix. While removing the appendix, the doctor had damaged the pancreas. For the rest of his life he had to deal with this disease. So as he looked for a job, he could not get hired because he could not pass a physical. He was only able to get employment where work was temporary and low pay. When World War II began, a neighbor told him that the Nickel Plate Railroad was hiring. There was such a shortage of men available to work that the railroad did not require a physical. Fred started his railroad career in the Car Department in 1941. As a Carman, he repaired boxcars, tankers, gondolas, and anything that rolled on rails. He was often gone for several days working on railroad wrecks. Later he became a foreman in the car department and secretary of his union. Fred was 6’ 2” and very athletic. He enjoyed participating in baseball, bowling, and playing golf. In his back yard at 61 White Street, he made putting greens and constructed his own putting irons. Since he was born and raised on a farm in his youth, he enjoyed farming. In Frankfort, he and his wife had a small truck farm. He raised chickens and sold them freshly dressed to the public. Also, many vegetables were sold and put up for the family. One of Fred’s favorite pastimes was playing cards. He was always ready for a competitive card game of Euchre, Hearts, or Bridge. Every chance he got, he would go to Lafayette to play cards with his brothers and sisters. He had such a great time when everyone got together for an afternoon and evening of card playing. Fred had a great personality and everyone enjoyed his company. He was an honest man whose handshake was his word. He had no room for liars and cheaters. He was a proud man who thought the world of his wife, children, and the whole Steiner family. Story provided by Jon F. Steiner
*WPA - The Works Progress Administration was a relief measure established in 1935 by executive order and was redesigned in 1939 when it was transferred to the Federal Works Agency. Headed by Harry L Hopkins and supplied with an initial congressional appropriation of $4,880,000,000, it offered work to the unemployed on a variety of programs. During its 8-year history, the WPA built 651,086 miles of highways, roads, and streets; and constructed, repaired, or improved 124,031 bridges, 125,1000 public buildings, 8,192 parks, and 853 airport landing fields. (Sources: Encyclopedia of American History, 7th Ed., Jeffrey B. Morris and Richard B. Morris, eds., 1996. The Oxford Companion to American History, Thomas H. Johnson. 1966)

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One October a friend of mine and I went to spend the weekend with her married sister who lived in Lafayette, Indiana. It was thru Sara that I took this blind date with Fred. I was 20 and he was 22. We dated that winter and the following August he gave me a diamond. My brother Jesse Young was ordained into the Presbyterian Ministry and was in Tennessee at a home mission field. He planned to be home after Christmas, so we planned that he would marry us in the First Presbyterian Church in Frankfort, Indiana with Tom Steiner, Fred’s brother, and my niece Miriam Young, daughter of my older brother, as our attendants. Few relatives were there and on December 31, 1939 we were married. Fred was baptized in Presbyterian Church, Frankfort a few months before we were married. Fred and I were married, the war news was bad. I worked as an assistant to an Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Doctor as bookkeeper, cleaning up and anything that needed done from the time I graduated from high school. Was there 4 years. While there 6 months more or less after being married, Fred found out he was a diabetic. First on a diet (but not successful to lower blood sugar) then he was in the hospital 2 weeks in Lafayette. He worked at Peerless Wire at night from 4pm to midnight. He reported in hospital and he was kept under check until Dr. put him on insulin once a day. By a couple or three months went by and War was declare. World War II and Peerless was one of the first to close. It was not necessary to need what they produced, shelves for new refrigerators and etc. The Aluminum Co of America just came to Lafayette and were hiring. Fred waited for interview. He couldn’t pass a physical there or anywhere. He would work, but most everywhere required a physical. He saw Erv, Tom, and John go to the service, he was really down to think he couldn’t be a part of this great War. He sure hated to see the boys go, even though all were married now. They still loved to gather and play “hearts” the game they always played at Moms on weekends. For when we were married Tom was a senior and John a freshman and Joe was maybe a 1st grader. There was so much fun and love there. How mom made thing go as far and stretch and skimp and scrape, but she was 100% devoted to her children all 11 of them. Fred felt he was Dad of them all. He gave the instructions and expected them carried thru, and both would help the discipline the younger ones. Mom always made me feel welcome and her love for me always showed thru the other children. The younger children felt Fred never did a wrong. As children they loved to come to Frankfort and stay all night and back home again. Usually they’d get homesick if only one would come. They were all lovely children mom had several to ask to adopt them but she would not think of separating a one of them. But people in the St. James Church helped clothe them and with God’s grace and the church she was proud of every one of them. Written by Alice Young Steiner Skaggs

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MMMaaarrrccchhh BBBiiirrrttthhhdddaaayyysss Beth Steiner Lancaster (54) 3/1 Henry Wagner (75) 3/2 Jennifer Tendick (14) 3/3 Krista Miller Hunt (33) 3/5 Bradley Cook (3) 3/5 Connor Coleman (15) 3/7 Mark Moffatt (31) 3/8 Damien Briscoe (9) 3/9 Virginia Steiner Wagner (78) 3/14 Warren Bricker (36) 3/17 Sarah Irwin (23) 3/17 Tyce Parker (3) 3/17 Rob Hunt (33) 3/20 Akasha Putman (2) 3/20 Kim Coleman (48) 3/22 Selma Steiner Moore 3/26 Debbie Carpenter Maldondo (60) 3/29 Cindy Kemery Burnham (59) 3/29 Courtney Coleman (11) 3/29 Travis Tendick (10) 3/30 Robbie Hunt (6) 3/30 Tristan Beck (16) 3/31

Dick and Beth Lancaster 3/23/1974 – 34 years

SSSiiiccckkk CCCooorrrnnneeerrr Keep the following people in your thoughts as they are recooperating: Tristan Beck – is recovering from a burst appendix in February. Mom (Dana Steiner Beck) told Tristan that the same thing happen to her dad (Joe Steiner) at about the same age. Teagan Parker – is recovery from a tonsillectomy. Teagan has been suffering from bouts of strep throat for several years and sharing that with her brothers. I’m sure Mom and Dad (Tara and Troy Parker) are hoping for a calmer 2008 and less doctor visits! IIInnnfffooorrrmmmaaatttiiiooonnn fffooorrr ttthhheee cccooommmiiinnnggg mmmooonnnttthhhsss……… First I want to thank Jon and Steve Steiner for answering my many emails for information and to Jon for providing the story about his father. Also I wish to thank Jimmie Steiner in Virginia for the information I obtained from a family history document. So now that that you see what I’m going to do each month, I hope you will all get busy and put together some information. Next month will be the family of Robert Ervin Steiner. So Jimmie, Janie, Gregg, Bret and Glenn and families, I need information about your family. I do have some, but I need more and some stories and pictures. Maybe a story about a favorite time you had with your dad or a special family time, anything you would like to share with the rest of the family. I need information as soon as you can get it to me. I hope you all are enjoying this as much as I am!

Do you have a myspace page or facebook page? Would you like to show it off and share it with others in our family? If so, send me your address and I will put it in next months newsletter.