Stephen Geoffrey Gladish

He was born to Dr. Donald and Alice Gladish on September 14, 1939, in Glenview, Illinois. There, he was their second child and was raised with five sisters. He received a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Illinois Chicago in English Composition and Literature, a Master’s Degree from Northwestern University Evanston in American Literature, and a Master’s Degree in Family and Career Counseling from the University of Arizona, Tucson.

In 1965, he met and courted his soon-to-be future wife, Betsy Barnitz. They married September 3, 1966. Together, they raised two daughters, Dawn Gladish Graffam (Ray) and Reeve Gladish, as well as two sons, Steve Gladish (Gauri) and David Gladish (Leyla).

Steve was extremely proud of his family’s military history going back to the Civil War. This led him to join the U.S. Air Force, where he served in the Sixth Weather Squadron (Mobile) at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma. From there his squadron deployed at different sites in Tornado Alley, the Nevada Test Site, and throughout the South Pacific.

After the service, Steve and Betsy settled down for several years in Flagstaff, Arizona, where he began what turned into fifty years of teaching college writing and film studies. He also taught composition, literature, and writing for twenty of those years in the state penitentiaries of the Arizona and Ohio Departments of Corrections. Steve published twenty-four educational and spiritual essays, six books as a teacher, four novels of adventure, romance, and historical fiction, titled, Moonlight, Missiles, and Moana, Mustang Fever Run Free with Wild Mustangs, Tracking the Skies for Lacy, Quanah: Last of the Paiute Warriors, one book on Education, Love in the Classroom, as well as a national Prison Anthology titled, Freedom of Vision: Voices Behind Prison Walls.

For a child who grew up shy, introverted, a bullied, Steve blossomed in his adult years. He became a child of God, always seeking Jesus and the truth in each day. He recreated in hiking, white-water rafting, mountain climbing, travel, and playing with grandchildren. Steve followed the teachings of those who incorporate the metaphysical into their healing methods, such as Deepak Chopra, Louise Hay, and Bernie Siegel. And for the last nearly four years of his life, Steve had focused on and developed spiritually with an in-depth study of all 66 books of the Bible.

Steve was preceded in death by his wife, Betsy, and his parents. He is survived by his four children, ten grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, and sisters Emily Smith, Sarah Campman, and Neva Asplundh.

To those who knew him, Steve had a character that was larger than life. He held integrity, honesty, and time with family above all else and will be forever remembered as a generous, fiercely witty, and immensely intelligent man. He was widely loved and will be profoundly missed.