Peter Arthur Steinhauser

1949 - 2015

Peter Arthur Steinhauser died peacefully in his home in West Hartford, CT, on March 22, 2015, after a three year battle with a rare lung disease. He was 66. Peter was born in Butte, MT on January 9, 1949, to his parents Stephen Rogers Steinhauser and Lois Helen Albrecht. He lived in Montana, Utah, Texas, and Long Island, where he attended Locust Valley High School in Nassau County, New York. As a youth, he attained Eagle Scout status as a Member of the Boy Scouts of America, and was a member of the Order of the Arrow, the National Honor Society of the Boy Scouts of America. He also participated in the American Legion Boys State, an educational program of government instruction for high school students. Peter joined the U.S. Navy in 1967 where he served on the aircraft carrier, the USS America, and for a short time on the USS Richmond K. Turner, a cruiser destroyer. His final destination in the Navy landed him in Newport, RI in 1973, where he remained for twenty-two years and built a successful painting business. While in Rhode Island, he assisted with Landmark Education for Youth at Risk, and was heavily involved with raising awareness about hunger and homelessness in the US, including participating in Hands Across America in 1986. He was a championship wrestler during his high school years, and while in Newport, spent many years playing competitive indoor and beach volleyball. In 1990, he met the love of his life and soon-to-be bride of 23 years, Christina Giroux. The couple moved to West Hartford, CT, where he continued his painting business and expanded his work to include general home improvement, creating Perfecting Properties, LLC. He also worked at Home Depot in Manchester, CT, for eight years during the earlier part of their marriage in order to have a stricter schedule and support full-time career opportunities for both he and his wife. They raised two daughters, now both in their college years, and became members of Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford in 2005. In May of 2012, Peter was diagnosed with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, but worked tirelessly more than two years beyond the diagnosis because he saw no reason to stop doing what he loved. He was an impeccable painter, a compassionate and easy-going man, a selfless husband and devoted father. Never without quick wit and a smile, the highlights of his life were his wife and two daughters. He once wrote that his proudest accomplishment was having a truly successful marriage. He was a natural when it came to cooking and gardening, never afraid to add a little more spice to food or a few extra bulbs in the dirt, just to make sure his girls always had enough of what they liked. Peter is survived by his wife, Christina, his daughters Erika and Gabriella, 21 and 18, as well as his sister and brother-in-law, Nancy and Bill Murray of Albany, NY. He also leaves two nephews and a niece, Adam, Benjamin, and Rachel Giroux of West Hartford, and several extended family members whose lives have been changed forever by knowing and loving this exceptional man. Calling Hours will be at Taylor & Modeen Funeral Home, 136 South Main Street, West Hartford from 5:00 - 8:00 PM on Thursday, March 26. A Funeral Service will be held at Asylum Hill Congregational Church, 814 Asylum Avenue, Hartford at 10:00 AM on Friday, March 27th. All are welcome. Peter will receive Military Honors for his service and be buried at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne, MA on Cape Cod during the summer. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his name to the Boy Scouts of America or the Winchester Chest Clinic at Yale New Haven Hospital. For directions and online condolences, please visit www.taylorandmodeen.com.