Stephen Danner Obituary

Stephen Danner
Stephen Keith Danner, 56, of Highland, Ill., born Jan. 8, 1948, in Champaign, Ill., died Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2005, at his residence.
He was born in Champaign, Ill., and grew up in and graduated from Lincoln High School in 1966. He served in the U.S. Army during Vietnam. He later earned an associate degree at Lincoln College and a BS degree in Geology, from Illinois State University. He worked as a senior geologist with Illinois Mine Subsidence Insurance's Company Fund in Caseyville, Ill. He moved to Highland in the late 1980s. He enjoyed riding his BMW-RT motorcycle, fishing, hiking, hunting and gardening. Stephen was a history buff, and loved all kinds of music. He met his wife while Line Dancing. He was a member of Highland Pistol and Rifle Club; National Rifle Association; "Iron Butt" Motorcycle Association; Phi Delta Kappa; Illinois Mining Institute; Society for Mining Engineers; and licensed professional geologist.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Brayton Vincent and Virginia Dare, nee Wicker, Danner.
He is survived by his wife, Bonnie, nee Ackerman, Danner, whom he married Jan. 25, 1997, in Mascoutah, Ill.; a daughter, Paula L. (Bob) Weltig of Highland, Ill.; three sons, Charlie L. Vavrinek of Madison, Wis., Jacob (Shannon) Boyd of Edwardsville, Ill., and Evan V. Danner of Highland, Ill.; a brother, David Danner of Springfield, Ill.; and a grandchild, Morira Lynott of Madison, Wis.
Memorials may be made to the Hospice of Southern Illinois.

Visitation: Friends may call from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 7, 2005, at Spengel-Boulanger Funeral Home, Highland, Ill.

Funeral: A private memorial service will be held at a later date.

SPENGEL-BOULANGER FUNERAL HOME, Highland, Ill.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by Belleville News-Democrat from Jan. 7 to Jan. 8, 2005.

Memories and Condolences
for Stephen Danner

1 Entry

Terry L. Woodcock

December 20, 2005

Eighteen years, plus/minus, is a lot of years to interact with someone, almost on a daily basis. That’s a long time should you decide you don’t like someone. That was not the case however with Steve. There is not a person walking this earth that I can say has influenced my life more. I can be a little backward sometimes when it comes to being around people, so when I first met Steve, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of his strong opinions & views. But it only took a few weeks for a lasting friendship to develop.

I have a select number of friends and I can truly say he was at the top list of my closest friends. He probably knew more about me & my life than anyone because he listened. I’ll miss our talks about life in general, or when he went into his “teaching mode”- passing on his wealth of knowledge, which he loved to do.

Nothing is the same, it’s because I find some part of me is missing. Maybe it’s the part of me that use to laugh; or the part of me that enjoyed going to work because he was the catalyst that held things together around here. There was a deep down to your soul kind of love for music that we shared. That if you heard a new song, or band, or heard of some new electronic device to play with that we couldn’t wait to tell the other about. He didn’t stay stuck in the past with his music like so many do, but broadened his genre, which he gladly would share with others.

There’s a couple stories at work about Steve and the “Christmas gift catalogs”…He would “bucked the system” a little and I would think “it’s going to hit the fan now” but those of authority seemed to have such high regard for the man, that given time things would simply slide back to normal. There was that part of him, a carry over from the 60s perhaps that, just maintained a degree of rebelism, that - anti-establishment, anti-authority. Yet, he himself was a leading force or “authority” on many levels; people simply seemed to migrate to him. He had a way about him that commanded great respect. Still, he didn’t come off as being overbearing or condescending to others.

Steve was our personal “in-house” answer man. One would walk away from a conversation with him and think, ‘wow’, what a source of information. It would seem he had some knowledge about everything. If he didn’t know, he always had a book. Springtime found each and every one of us at his office door asking “how to” or “what to do” questions. Thank you for all you taught me. My garden will never grow the same. He was the sunshine. He was my confidante, an advisor, a teacher, an inspiration. I still miss you daily dear friend.