Stephen Paul Egermeier

Stephen Paul Egermeier was born in Nowata, Oklahoma on August 15, 1952, to Richard Fred Egermeier Sr. and Vera Mae (Stutteville) Egermeier. He passed away on October 18, 2023, in Nowata, Oklahoma. Steve grew up in Childers, Oklahoma, on his family farm and attended Delaware High School.

After graduating in 1970, he was drafted into the Army First Calvary Division. Steve went to boot camp at Fort Leonardwood in Missouri. He married Anita Jane Harrison on December 4, 1971.

While in boot camp, every drill sergeant must have loved Steve because they would single him out to do push-ups or k.p. duty. He said drill sergeants don’t have a sense of humor, so he wouldn’t advise hitting one with a snowball. After he survived boot camp, he was stationed at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. He started his military career as a door gunner on a Huey. This may be hard to believe, but Steve was onery and adventurous. One day on drills, he got bored and noticed there were a lot of cows in the pasture, so instead of eating whatever the mess hall was serving, he was going to eat real beef, so he open fired on the herd. Unfortunately, the cows were owned by the Governor of Texas. After the incident and not being court-martialed, he was reassigned to another division, the motor pull division, where he later served his term and was given an Honorable Discharge.

After being discharged Steve and his wife, Anita and their two sons, Brian and Kevin, moved to South Coffeyville, Oklahoma. A few years after moving back to Childers onto the family farm, their third son, Eric, was born. Steve wanted his three sons to go to Lenapah schools, but the house was on the Delaware/Lenapah school district border line. The smallest election that was ever held in Nowata County being that Steve and his wife, Anita was the only two voting to annex the school district to Lenapah. Anita teased Steve before the election day that she would vote against him if he made her mad.

Steve worked in Coffeyville, Kansas for Bill Crow Voltzwagon for several years until he found out how crooked the owner was, and he found another job before he quit that one. He began working at Funk Manufacturing in maintenance as a mechanic. Thirty-six years later and the company being sold, it became John Deere Coffeyville Works, where Steve then retired in the same position as a maintenance mechanical engineer.

Steve was the UAW Local 2366 Union President for 12 years, until retiring in 2009. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge in Delaware #477 and was the Past Master 32^nd Degree Master Mason of the Blue Lodge. Steve loved his family, hunting, fishing, and camping, as well as farming. He was a hard-working man, never resting for long and up moving, fixing, creating, and building something. Steve got discouraged later in life because his knee and back wouldn’t allow him to do all of the things that he wanted to, but he never lost his sense of humor, creativity, or orneriness. Steve

He was preceded in death by his father: Dick Egermeier, his mother: Vera Egermeier, his wife: Anita Egermeier, and his granddaughter: Victoria Egermeier.

Those to cherish Steve’s memory include his children: Brian Egermeier, Kevin Egermeier and wife, Tresa, and Eric Egermeier and wife, Jessica; 11 grandchildren, 9 great-grandchildren, his siblings: Keith Allen Egermeier and wife, Belinda and Richard Fred Egermeier Jr. and wife, Janet, many nieces and nephews, other family members and many friends.