Joseph Stecher

Joseph Francis Stecher, 82, Pomona, Calif., passed away from cancer on Sept. 2, 2011, at Kaiser Hospital, Fontana, Calif. Cremation has taken place. Formal burial will be held at 2 p.m. today, Oct. 5, at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery, Mandan, with military honors by the Mandan VFW.

Joseph was born Jan. 21, 1929, to Joseph and Elizabeth Stecher in Jamestown. He began his school years at St. Mary's in Bismarck and graduated from Mandan High School in 1947. He joined the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force and was honorably discharged in May 1952. Joe began his telephone career at Western Electric in Bismarck in 

May 1952, transferred to Northwestern Bell and was promoted to engineer in Fargo in 1966. He then transferred to Pacific Telesis in California, where he continued until retiring in 1986 from AT&T.

Joe married Dolores Campagna on May 10, 1969. They made their home in Pomona. Joe and Dolores took excellent care of their grandchildren, John, Kristopher and Sara, and raised them as their own. He also loved to spend time with his great-grandchildren, Maddux and Jaxon.

Joe loved to spend time traveling around the country. He was a great conversationalist and loved to talk about politics, philosophy, electronics, engineering, music, society and common sense. He was an absolute wealth of good information and good humor. He also had a huge interest in computers. Joe was very interested in genealogy and was a member of the local German Genealogical Society.

Joseph is survived by and will be deeply missed by his wife, Dolores; his grandchildren, John, Kris and Sara; his sisters, Irene (Bill) Hall, Bismarck, RoseMary (Bill) Helbling, Mandan, Valerine (Kenneth) Roe, Washington, and Laura (Bruce) Boehm, Mandan; and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his brothers, LeRoy and Richard, both of Dayton, Ohio; his sisters, Elizabeth (Rodney) Anderson, and Catherine (Bill) Anderst, all of Mandan; and his nephews, Rodney and Joe Stecher, both of Mandan.