John Steele, 77, of Crawfordsville passed away peacefully with family members.  He was the son of Catherine Virginia McGaw Steele and H. Wesley Steele.  He graduated from Scecina Memorial HS (Indianapolis) in 1962 and United Electronic Laboratories (Louisville) in 1964.

Mr. Steele married Kathy Shaver on Aug. 10, 1974.  They had one child, Matthew, in 1986.  They were married 46 years.

He worked for 20 years at Communications Maintenance Inc. (Indianapolis) as electronic technician, 13 years at Hook Drugs (Indianapolis) as an alarm supervisor and electronic technician, and 15 years for Crawfordsville Schools as a computer programmer.  He loved all his jobs, but his favorite was Crawfordsville Schools because of the noble cause and being surrounded by the best people on earth.

Mr. Steele and Kathy had a passion for photography.  For 20 years they helped Crawfordsville students doing media fair projects many of which won state competitions.  On spring breaks and summer vacations, Mr. Steele and Kathy would grab their cameras and go to National Parks and try to keep Kodak in business.  They succeeded for a while.

In his retirement, he helped deliver lunches for Meals on Wheels and made stained glass windows.  He was a student of dreams and was a member of the Crawfordsville Dreamers for 31 years.

Survivors include wife Kathy Steele, son Matthew (Susan Jedrzejewski) Steele of Charlotte, NC, brother Harry (Bobbie) Steele of Indianapolis, three sisters, Martha (Ronald Micek) Kuffel of Schaumburg, Il, Sue (Paul) Brady of Hebron, KY, Jonnie Rae (Joe) Gehring of Fortville.

He was preceded in death by his parents.

To benefit the community, memorial contributions may be directed to Montgomery County Community Foundation ( MCCF ) Steele Fund for Crawfordsville Community Schools or Meals on Wheels, C/O Gary Stull, 2428 W. Winslow Dr., Crawfordsville, IN 47933.

A funeral mass is scheduled for 2:00 PM Friday April 16th at St. Thomas Aquinas in West Lafayette with visitation one hour prior.