Cathy Stienecker--oh how I miss her. She died in fall, 2003 at age 48, in her home in Lakewood, Ohio.
We started together at Fairbrook in first grade, and even ended up going to graduate school together, and living in the same house near the OSU campus our second year. Our last visit with her was when we were in the Cleveland area at a conference and she joined us for lunch, sharing her work stories. She was truly a social worker who worked in the trenches.
Her mom, Edith, was our Brownie and Girl Scout leader. My mom taught second grade and her mom taught first grade at Parkwood together and they were great friends. When my mom died, her mom held me in her arms and wept with me. I remember many meals at the Stienecker house, with her sister Nancy and brother Carl, and parents Ed and Edie, hearing stories about her mom's big family, teaching, her dad's engineer work with air conditioners at Frigidaire, etc.
Thanks to Cathy I shared in many adventures I surely would have missed otherwise. I remember volunteering with her at Bergamo, doing patterning on kids to help them learn to crawl and volunteering at the Dayton State Hospital in the summer, and at the MR/DD school. She and I attended AFS and other student group meetings together. She helpd me find a job and I worked with her at a Kettering nursing home as nurse's aide during the summer of 1994. She's the one who got my career pointed in the long term care direction. Little did I know then what a big impact that job would make.
She worked in Mansfield, Ohio as director of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program after graduating from Miami University. Two years later, we both showed up at Ohio State to pursue Masters in Social Work and Public Administration. Then she moved to Cleveland and took a job with the Catholic Diocese. She had several other positions in the Cleveland area, too--some with very colorful populations, and she took it in stride.
She had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis as early as when she was at Miami University after a bought with vision problems. Her brother, Carl, had that diagnosis also. Sadly, Edith, Ed, Cathy and Carl are all gone now. Nancy and her family live in Oakwood--and sounds just like her mom.
I have a few pictures of all of us, as brownies, learning to skate. I will try and find them. I loved going down in the basement for our meetings. I didn't have a basement and to me that was the coolest thing. Edith and my mom were close also. I guess mom was assistant leader for a long time. Cathy was another friend who was destined for bigger and better. Remembering her.
Kim Fahrney (Irwin)
Cathy Stienecker--oh how I miss her. She died in fall, 2003 at age 48, in her home in Lakewood, Ohio.
We started together at Fairbrook in first grade, and even ended up going to graduate school together, and living in the same house near the OSU campus our second year. Our last visit with her was when we were in the Cleveland area at a conference and she joined us for lunch, sharing her work stories. She was truly a social worker who worked in the trenches.
Her mom, Edith, was our Brownie and Girl Scout leader. My mom taught second grade and her mom taught first grade at Parkwood together and they were great friends. When my mom died, her mom held me in her arms and wept with me. I remember many meals at the Stienecker house, with her sister Nancy and brother Carl, and parents Ed and Edie, hearing stories about her mom's big family, teaching, her dad's engineer work with air conditioners at Frigidaire, etc.
Thanks to Cathy I shared in many adventures I surely would have missed otherwise. I remember volunteering with her at Bergamo, doing patterning on kids to help them learn to crawl and volunteering at the Dayton State Hospital in the summer, and at the MR/DD school. She and I attended AFS and other student group meetings together. She helpd me find a job and I worked with her at a Kettering nursing home as nurse's aide during the summer of 1994. She's the one who got my career pointed in the long term care direction. Little did I know then what a big impact that job would make.
She worked in Mansfield, Ohio as director of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program after graduating from Miami University. Two years later, we both showed up at Ohio State to pursue Masters in Social Work and Public Administration. Then she moved to Cleveland and took a job with the Catholic Diocese. She had several other positions in the Cleveland area, too--some with very colorful populations, and she took it in stride.
She had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis as early as when she was at Miami University after a bought with vision problems. Her brother, Carl, had that diagnosis also. Sadly, Edith, Ed, Cathy and Carl are all gone now. Nancy and her family live in Oakwood--and sounds just like her mom.
Sheryl (Sherry) Stevens
Cathy was a great person. Always so sweet in school. I remember her mom as our scout leader. Those were fun days.
Sharon Boggs
I have a few pictures of all of us, as brownies, learning to skate. I will try and find them. I loved going down in the basement for our meetings. I didn't have a basement and to me that was the coolest thing. Edith and my mom were close also. I guess mom was assistant leader for a long time. Cathy was another friend who was destined for bigger and better. Remembering her.