Harold Steele

SOUTH PARIS – Harold Steele, 92, passed away Friday May 3, 2024, at the Maine Veteran’s Home in South Paris after a long and happy life. The love of that life, his wife of over 65 years, Jerri, comforted him, heart to heart, as he crossed over. 

Born in Rumford on March 26, 1932, to Allan and Elizabeth Steele, Hal was the youngest of four. After graduating high school in 1950, he joined the Air Force and was stationed in San Bernadino, California. He was very proud of having served and rose to the rank of Staff Sergeant. After his service he remained in California and had started a family, but fate had other plans. Eventually Hal found himself in dire straits and at a crossroads: he could continue collecting unemployment or take a job paying the same amount. He took that job and began a steady upward climb.

Hal decided to come home in 1956 and took a job with the Oxford Paper Company in Rumford, where he stayed for the rest of his work life. Hal had a natural leadership about him; he built a career culminating with his elevation to Superintendent of the company’s R15 production complex. His work provided him with lifelong friendships, and great stories. Ever knowing what’s truly important, he retired at 59-and-a-half, and spent the next 33 years inseparable from Jerri. 

Hal and Geraldine Moreau crossed paths through mutual friends. While out with a group of them, he came across a short length of garden hose. Asking her to put the end up to her ear, he used it to quietly ask her out. They married in 1959 and raised four children: Mark, Ken, Sandi, and Wayne. Hal’s daughter Carolyn would become a beloved member of the family. He kept his son Allen in his heart. Hal spoke often of how proud his family made him, and he wanted nothing more than for their lives to surpass his. He is survived by them and their partners Stewart (Carolyn), Heidi (Mark), Samantha (Ken), Sid (Sandi), and Amy (Wayne). Hal was blessed with 9 grandchildren: Donavan, Curtis, Conner, Kendal, Evan, Erica, Annie, Ellie, and Abbey; and two great grandchildren Donya, and Ryan. Being their Grampy was one of his life’s greatest gifts. Jerri’s family became Hal’s family and he loved each of them, and their children, with all his heart. 

Mostly, Hal’s story is of his love for Jerri. Some years ago, while walking along a rocky beach with another couple, the group decided to have a contest to find the prettiest rock. The men separated from the women and took off on widely different tracks. Later they presented their entries. When Jerri held up her rock, something about it struck Hal … he held his rock to hers: they were the same rock, split in half. That rock remains a treasured keepsake. They were blessed and destined to have found each other and shared countless loving memories, big and small.

His family would like to express their sincere gratitude to the entire staff at the Maine Veteran’s Home of South Paris for the loving care he received while there, especially to Amy with whom he had a special connection. 

Hal’s life was filled with love and laughter. He was highly intelligent, naturally curious, and a critical thinker. He was open minded and understood we could disagree and still love each other. Hal valued integrity, he lived it and in doing so, taught it. He was an unabashed foodie…he loved to cook, create, consume, and converse food. Later in life he endured Parkinson’s disease with an unwaveringly good attitude…” attitude is everything” he would say. He loved to playfully tease you and trash talk to you and was never more happy than when you laughed with him. His life was a lesson in what truly matters. He wrote little poems regularly; this was the last:

“I’ve had a long and happy life, I married the Queen of Hearts, the love of my life. A family that bonded with respect and laughter, and other things that really matter So as you can easily see…sing no sad songs for me…”

Arrangements are under the care of Chandler Funeral Home and Cremation Servies 45 Main St South Paris To make an online condolence please visit http://www.chandlerfunerals.com.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you instead donate to Maine’s Veteran’s Home or provide kindness to someone there.