Darlene Joyce Stueve

Darlene Joyce (Stillman) Stueve was born on April 14, 1944, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Her parents – Ralph and Vida Stillman – were overjoyed to have Darlene join her older brothers, Dewayne and Larry, with younger sister Sandra soon to follow. The Stillman family left behind the cold winters of Wisconsin to make their home in sunny Southern California.

It was this move to California and Darlene’s amazing bowling skills that led her to her partner in life, Harlen Stueve. The two married in October 1964 and spent nearly 53 years side-by-side, until Harlen’s passing in September 2017. Together they built a family, a business, and a legacy of doing what is right, even when no one is watching.

In addition to daughter, sister and wife, Darlene was known by many names. As Mom to Carla, Mike, Wendy, Amy and Danny, she was a mother with a tender heart, but a spine of steel. As her children, we will never know how often we broke her heart, caused sleepless nights or the sacrifices she made for our benefit. We do know the love and security we felt, the faith in a Risen Savior we know as fact, and that we are truly blessed to call her Mom.

Being known as Grandma to her twelve grandchildren (and four great-grandsons) may have been Darlene’s favorite name. She beamed with pride at countless school events, sports games, dance recitals, plays and graduations, but enjoyed the ordinary days or an afternoon of swinging on the swings with them just as much.

She may not have worn a chef’s hat, but if you knew Darlene for any length of time you saw her in an apron. She created meals for more than 500 with the same ease of cooking dinner for her family of seven. Her favorite events were church events where she could combine her love of cooking with her love for the Lord.

With an easy smile and a willingness to roll up her sleeves, Darlene was a leader. If you volunteered for an event planned by her, you knew she would be working just as hard and most certainly for a lot longer. At the end of the day you realized the effort somehow felt more like fun and not much like work. And when she asked you to help out again, you never considered saying no.

As a problem solver, Darlene’s toughest challenge was her battle with dementia. It may have stolen so much in her final years, but she never lost her ability to smile through the hard moments. Darlene lost her earthly battle the morning of November 23, 2022, after spending days surrounded by her family. If the line at the Pearly Gates is like the checkout line at Albertson’s, Darlene would have already known a friend or two. In Heaven she is once again called Daughter, Wife, Mom, Grandma, Sister, Aunt and Friend. While we miss her on this side of Heaven, we are comforted that she is once again happy, healthy and whole, in the presence of the One who saved her. She is reunited with her parents, her husband – Harlen, daughter – Wendy, grandson – Christian, and so many others who knew and loved her.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:8-10