In Memory Of
Steve D. Kuchta
1910
2014
Steve D. Kuchta
November 2, 1910 — December 4, 2014
Steve Dan Kuchta of Howard, formerly of Ladysmith, WI, passed away at 11:10am on Thursday, December 4, 2014, at Cardinal Ridge Assisted Living Home, one month after celebrating his 104th birthday with many wonderful caring friends, relatives, staff, workers and residents at Cardinal Ridge.
He was born on November 2, 1910, in Chicago, IL, to Stephan & Susan (Zuzana) Kuchta, both of Czechoslovakia.
In April 1913, the family of 5 moved with another family of 5 (Kmosena's) to a lumberjack cabin they all bought, six miles north of Ladysmith on the Tornapple River where they lived together while cutting trees and clearing land to start farming.
Steve and his two brothers, John & Andy, and two sisters, Susan & Anna, learned to work hard to help their parent's farm.
Steve was kept out of school to help his father cut wood for all the one room schools in that area to burn in the cold bitter winters.
Steve loved hunting, fishing and trapping at a young age to help provide for the family's needs. He moved to Chicago to work in a rubber tire factory for two years, but missed the woods and farm lands of northern Wisconsin and moved back home.
He learned to box and was a pitcher for a number of teams in town. His brother John was his catcher as they always practiced when their dad gave them a break from picking rock in the fields and farm duties. He learned to play guitar & harmonica with a group of boys who played for barn dances and parties in the area. Steve worked for the Ladysmith Creamery for over 33 years and became a butter maker where they shipped butter and powdered milk all over America and overseas. He was sent to other creameries to train people how to make butter. He also loved to paint houses, inside and out, for people.
At age 28, he married Helen Jean Reid in November 1938, who lived on a farm about four miles away. Gary, Bonnie & Steven were born in Ladysmith to them. They had a great solid marriage and were members of St. John's Lutheran Church. They both loved having big vegetable gardens and canning, plus they grew beans for the local cannery. They loved to play cards and go dancing with their friends, the Kostka's and Haasl's. Helen Jean passed onto glory in September 1978 at 63 after a four year battle with cancer. She found Jesus to be her personal Savior, Lord and best friend.
In January of 2013, at 102 years old, Steve moved to Green Bay to live with his son & daughter-in-law, and enjoyed making many new friends and telling them his stories of growing up on the farm as a young boy. He loved to help do little jobs around the house and yard, getting down in the garden and pulling weeds, fishing and taking rides in the country, sitting on the deck, sometimes all day, watching birds and dog while drinking coffee and reading the GB Press Gazette and Ladysmith newspaper from front to back and read his Bible daily or Christian books or magazines.
He enjoyed it when his daughter-in-law and granddaughter would wait on him and bring him coffee and a sweet of some kind. He always had to have a cookie with is coffee, but he would say just one, and stuck to that most of the time. She would bring him breakfast and lunch and sometimes supper to eat outside on the deck or front yard while he sat on the glider swing watching cars and people go by.
Steve loved his family and gave up a lot for them. He loved his parents who lived to be 89 & 98 and his four siblings who lived to be 102, 99, 96 and 90. They all grew up loving sauerkraut from a young age on the farm and their mouths would begin to drool in later years when anyone talked about or cooked it. Steve came up with a great recipe of his own when his wife had cancer and wanted him to make it for her. Since then, his 3 kids have been making their dad's recipe, it's that good. He also came up with making a great recipe for bbq's that everyone liked. As the grandkids say, "can you make some of great grandpa's bbq for us?" When he caught fish he froze them until the kids came home. Then he deep fried them outside as the family had a big fish feed in the yard with A&W root beer.
Steve loved his grandchildren and even babysat them in his late years as he would get down on the floor and play with them.
He played his harmonica up to almost a week before his passing. On July 27, 2014, Steve had a Great Encounter with God before he went to Cardinal Ridge; Jesus became so real and personal to him from then until his last breath. He used to talk about God as the Man upstairs, but that all changed and from then on he knew Him as Jesus and his Savior and Lord and King. He said I read the bible faithfully each day for so many years and didn't really understand, but after that he did. In the last three weeks he couldn't read anymore, so family and friends who came to visit him would read God's Word to him, he would say "Oh that's so good as he relaxed and took it all in." He loved to pray with people who came by to see him. He always talked about how he wanted to go to heaven to see his wife, Jean, but after his encounter with Jesus, he would say, "oh I can't wait until Jesus comes and gets me and takes me with Him so I can learn more about Him." So in short, that's what really happened, Angel's took him Home to that land where there is no pain or sickness or darkness or corruption. Everything is totally perfect, not one flower has a faded leaf or petal. That is where God dwells in all His glory and majesty and beauty and brightness. No sin or darkness can enter this place, but only those that have their garments washed in the powerful blood of Jesus that happened at the cross on Calvary, like Steve experienced in July.
Steve and his family always said how they loved all the great loving and caring staff, workers and residents at Cardinal Ridge Assisted Living Home in Howard, and the delicious homemade meals they had each day. And for all the great love we all felt from all the wonderful people we met from Unity Hospice who came to help dad through this time. There is just so many that poured out their hearts of love to our father and us, there are no words to say how much we appreciate each one of you. And for all the friends and relatives and neighbors and old high school classmates, who kept praying and asking about dad all the time, and showing concern. For the Green Bay Press Gazette and Adam for writing a story about dad and Ladysmith newspaper for printing it also thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone from the Steve Kuchta family.
He is survived by his three children and their families; children, Gary (Karen) Kuchta, Bonni Kuchta and Steven (Cindy) Kuchta; grandchildren, Kim (Bill) Kuipers, Jody (David) Harrington, Paul (Angela) Kuchta, Jenni Moews, Lacy Clark, Terina Kuchta, Sylas Kuchta and Isaac Kuchta; great-grandchildren, Jason & Steven Kuipers, Ashley Harrington and Caleb Kuchta.
He is preceded in death by his wife; grandson, Slipp Landon O'Conner; siblings,
A memorial service will be held at 2:00pm on Friday, December 19, 2014, at Cornerstone Family Church, 2780 School Ln, Suamico, WI.
He was born on November 2, 1910, in Chicago, IL, to Stephan & Susan (Zuzana) Kuchta, both of Czechoslovakia.
In April 1913, the family of 5 moved with another family of 5 (Kmosena's) to a lumberjack cabin they all bought, six miles north of Ladysmith on the Tornapple River where they lived together while cutting trees and clearing land to start farming.
Steve and his two brothers, John & Andy, and two sisters, Susan & Anna, learned to work hard to help their parent's farm.
Steve was kept out of school to help his father cut wood for all the one room schools in that area to burn in the cold bitter winters.
Steve loved hunting, fishing and trapping at a young age to help provide for the family's needs. He moved to Chicago to work in a rubber tire factory for two years, but missed the woods and farm lands of northern Wisconsin and moved back home.
He learned to box and was a pitcher for a number of teams in town. His brother John was his catcher as they always practiced when their dad gave them a break from picking rock in the fields and farm duties. He learned to play guitar & harmonica with a group of boys who played for barn dances and parties in the area. Steve worked for the Ladysmith Creamery for over 33 years and became a butter maker where they shipped butter and powdered milk all over America and overseas. He was sent to other creameries to train people how to make butter. He also loved to paint houses, inside and out, for people.
At age 28, he married Helen Jean Reid in November 1938, who lived on a farm about four miles away. Gary, Bonnie & Steven were born in Ladysmith to them. They had a great solid marriage and were members of St. John's Lutheran Church. They both loved having big vegetable gardens and canning, plus they grew beans for the local cannery. They loved to play cards and go dancing with their friends, the Kostka's and Haasl's. Helen Jean passed onto glory in September 1978 at 63 after a four year battle with cancer. She found Jesus to be her personal Savior, Lord and best friend.
In January of 2013, at 102 years old, Steve moved to Green Bay to live with his son & daughter-in-law, and enjoyed making many new friends and telling them his stories of growing up on the farm as a young boy. He loved to help do little jobs around the house and yard, getting down in the garden and pulling weeds, fishing and taking rides in the country, sitting on the deck, sometimes all day, watching birds and dog while drinking coffee and reading the GB Press Gazette and Ladysmith newspaper from front to back and read his Bible daily or Christian books or magazines.
He enjoyed it when his daughter-in-law and granddaughter would wait on him and bring him coffee and a sweet of some kind. He always had to have a cookie with is coffee, but he would say just one, and stuck to that most of the time. She would bring him breakfast and lunch and sometimes supper to eat outside on the deck or front yard while he sat on the glider swing watching cars and people go by.
Steve loved his family and gave up a lot for them. He loved his parents who lived to be 89 & 98 and his four siblings who lived to be 102, 99, 96 and 90. They all grew up loving sauerkraut from a young age on the farm and their mouths would begin to drool in later years when anyone talked about or cooked it. Steve came up with a great recipe of his own when his wife had cancer and wanted him to make it for her. Since then, his 3 kids have been making their dad's recipe, it's that good. He also came up with making a great recipe for bbq's that everyone liked. As the grandkids say, "can you make some of great grandpa's bbq for us?" When he caught fish he froze them until the kids came home. Then he deep fried them outside as the family had a big fish feed in the yard with A&W root beer.
Steve loved his grandchildren and even babysat them in his late years as he would get down on the floor and play with them.
He played his harmonica up to almost a week before his passing. On July 27, 2014, Steve had a Great Encounter with God before he went to Cardinal Ridge; Jesus became so real and personal to him from then until his last breath. He used to talk about God as the Man upstairs, but that all changed and from then on he knew Him as Jesus and his Savior and Lord and King. He said I read the bible faithfully each day for so many years and didn't really understand, but after that he did. In the last three weeks he couldn't read anymore, so family and friends who came to visit him would read God's Word to him, he would say "Oh that's so good as he relaxed and took it all in." He loved to pray with people who came by to see him. He always talked about how he wanted to go to heaven to see his wife, Jean, but after his encounter with Jesus, he would say, "oh I can't wait until Jesus comes and gets me and takes me with Him so I can learn more about Him." So in short, that's what really happened, Angel's took him Home to that land where there is no pain or sickness or darkness or corruption. Everything is totally perfect, not one flower has a faded leaf or petal. That is where God dwells in all His glory and majesty and beauty and brightness. No sin or darkness can enter this place, but only those that have their garments washed in the powerful blood of Jesus that happened at the cross on Calvary, like Steve experienced in July.
Steve and his family always said how they loved all the great loving and caring staff, workers and residents at Cardinal Ridge Assisted Living Home in Howard, and the delicious homemade meals they had each day. And for all the great love we all felt from all the wonderful people we met from Unity Hospice who came to help dad through this time. There is just so many that poured out their hearts of love to our father and us, there are no words to say how much we appreciate each one of you. And for all the friends and relatives and neighbors and old high school classmates, who kept praying and asking about dad all the time, and showing concern. For the Green Bay Press Gazette and Adam for writing a story about dad and Ladysmith newspaper for printing it also thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone from the Steve Kuchta family.
He is survived by his three children and their families; children, Gary (Karen) Kuchta, Bonni Kuchta and Steven (Cindy) Kuchta; grandchildren, Kim (Bill) Kuipers, Jody (David) Harrington, Paul (Angela) Kuchta, Jenni Moews, Lacy Clark, Terina Kuchta, Sylas Kuchta and Isaac Kuchta; great-grandchildren, Jason & Steven Kuipers, Ashley Harrington and Caleb Kuchta.
He is preceded in death by his wife; grandson, Slipp Landon O'Conner; siblings,
A memorial service will be held at 2:00pm on Friday, December 19, 2014, at Cornerstone Family Church, 2780 School Ln, Suamico, WI.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Steve D. Kuchta, please visit our flower store.
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Friday, December 19, 2014
Starts at 2:00 pm (Central time)
Cornerstone Family Church
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