STEELE, Wallace 1919-2009

STEELE

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 4/6/2009 at 20:24:39

HAM LAKE, MINNESOTA - Wallace A. Steele, 89, of Ham Lake and formerly of Charles City, went to be with the Lord on March 21, 2009.

A funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, March 27, at Waite Park Wesleyan Church, 1510 33rd Ave. NE. Visitation will be one hour prior to service at church and 5-8 p.m. Thursday at Washburn-McReavy Northeast Chapel. (612) 781-6828, 2901 Johnson St. NE.

Wallace loved his Lord, his family, music and work. He was born on December 2, 1919, in Charles City, Iowa, and graduated from Charles City High School in 1936 after which he found work at Oliver Tractor. In 1941 he moved to the Twin Cities to take a job at Northern Ordinance.

On June 28, 1941, he married Genevieve Skyrme, also of Charles City. After being drafted into the U.S. Navy in 1944, Wallace served as a machinist in the Pacific on board a water supply ship, the USS Tamalpais.

Upon returning his family settled in Columbia Heights. He worked as a machinist for nine years at Marine Mfg. and then took a management position at Western Screw Co. late to become Corco Precision Products. In 1971 he began the Wallace Steele Co., working everyday in the shop up to the day of his passing. He engineered the VIX BIT 50 years ago on the request of a building contractor looking for a better way to hinge doors.

Wallace is preceded in death by his wife of 66 years, Genevieve, and survived by: one sister-in-law, Ruth Krueger; one sister, Violet Corbin; three sons: Duane (Dixie), James (Esther) and Brian (Jacqueline); 10 grandchildren: Lida, Dan (Amy), Maria, Hannah, Winston, Austin (Katie), Lincoln, Savannah, Dinah and Briannah; four great-grandchildren; as well as nieces and nephews.

Memorials preferred to Global partners (Wesleyan World Missions).

[CHARLES CITY PRESS, March 26, 2009]