As Steve Heck battled ALS in 1998, I talked to Jeannie about taking him to Idaho for a visit with Tom, but I had waited too long - one of my great regrets and a painful lesson about not waiting to express appreciation for the people we love.
When Steve passed in August 1998, Wobs and I spoke often, trying to cope with our great sense of loss. Tom told me that his feelings could be expressed by two quotes - one very profane; the other from General George Patton after the death of his adjutant during WWII: “He was a fine man - and he had no vices.”
I first met Steve as a freshman pledge at the Phi Gam house in September 1964. Steve was a star in that class - talented, smart, a heavily recruited football player, and a real leader. Those qualities were impressive, but after I began rooming with Steve and Tom I realized that being a varsity football player was not even close to the best thing about Steve. The most important thing about Steve was that he was my friend.
As a friend, he was loyal, generous and fun-loving. He was always recruiting friends for some new adventure, like pulling a boat from Lawrence to northern Ontario for a late summer fishing trip or building and operating an over-powered “2-banger” speedboat at Lake Dabanawa. The 2-banger gave us many a wild ride - it almost killed Rich Brewster - and it was just one example of Steve’s unquenchable zest for life. And always, whatever we were doing, there was the big crooked grin and a gleam in his eye.
I owe Steve a great deal. He probably saved my life by coming back to room 11 the night of the Phi Gam fire to wake me (on my cozy top bunk on a 3-decker). He and Jeannie introduced me to Barb during Western Civ exam prep that summer, so I owe them for my family as well.
Steve was a wonderful friend who made his world a better place, and me a better person for having known him.
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