Howard Harold Steenbergen, age 100 of Centerville, passed away at home on September 11, 2018. He was born on December 13, 1917 in Homer, Illinois, the son of Charles Cleveland and Osa Ola (Sadler) Steenbergen; one of six sons who grew up on various farms in East Central Illinois. He attended a one room school house in Homer, Ill. and went on to work nationally and internationally in electronic engineering for the Defense Dept. for well over 40 years. After graduation from Ogden High School he coached basketball in Penfield, Ill, and worked for the FDR Rural Electrification Program and as a plumber’s apprentice at Chanute Air Force Base. He married Patricia Buck of Penfield, Ill. in 1941 shortly before entering the Army and World War II, serving in North Africa and Italy with the 3195th Signal Company. Howard attended the University of Cincinnati, majoring in engineering after which he went to work at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH in the Avionics Laboratory. He retired from WPAFB where he was a Supervisory Electronic Engineer in the Electronic Technology Division of the Air Force Avionics Laboratory. He was an Air Force working member of the Department of Defense Advisory Group on Electron Devices for 15 years. He was also a Defense Department representative to the Department of State for COCOM, an international organization responsible for control of Critical Technologies. He retired from the Defense department in 1976 but continued to do consulting work. Howard was a member of American Legion Post 598 of Kettering, and he was a member of St. Leonard’s Community of Centerville. He served as basketball coach of St. Lawrence Academy of Penfield Illinois for 3 years. He was an avid tennis player, skier, golfer, small plane pilot, and walked almost daily. He worked and supervised construction for Habitat for Humanity as well as volunteering at the Dayton Art Institute. He was a member of the Greene County Transit Board and the Greene County Kiwanis Club. Patricia preceded him in death in August of 2000, as well as his parents and all 5 brothers. He is survived by 5 children: Mary Jo (Al) Kubeluis, John Martin, James Edward, Kathy Lake, and Susan (Eric) Vimr; 9 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren. Friends may visit from 2-5 PM on Sunday, September 16th, 2018 at Tobias Funeral Home, Far Hills Chapel. Additional services will be held on Tuesday and Wednesday in Penfield, Ill in care of Lux Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Habitat for Humanity of Dayton, https://daytonhabitat.org/. Online condolences may be sent to www.tobiasfuneralhome.com.
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