Lorene Evelyn Ferguson "Renie" Steves

1936 - 2022

Lorene "Renie" Evelyn Ferguson Steves
November 16, 1936 - July 21, 2022
Fort Worth, Texas - Lorene, who much of the world knew as "Renie," passed away on July 21, 2022 at her home in Fort Worth surrounded by the love of her family.
A requiem Eucharist mass was held at 4 p.m. Saturday, July 23rd at the All Saints Chapel on the campus of All Saints Episcopal School 9700 Saints Circle, Fort Worth, 76108. Renie will be laid to rest beside her parents in Shreveport, LA.
Renie was born on Nov. 16, 1936 in Shreveport, LA to James Thomas and Lorene Denton Ferguson.
Renie, a culinary pioneer among American women, lived an extraordinary life dedicated to family and sharing her boundless joy and enthusiasm for life, cuisine and entertainment with others, whether at home or abroad.
Her innate interest in the culinary arts surfaced early. As a little girl, Renie would stand on a kitchen chair helping her mother with meals and assisting with the preparation of dishes shared by friends and community. Renie graduated from C.E. Byrd High School in Shreveport in 1954 and Randolph Macon Woman's College in 1958 where she earned degrees in political science and economics. She became a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority and received the Chapter Service Award for Outstanding Servant Leadership in her senior year. To her great joy, Renie was honored in 2008 with Randolph Macon's Distinguished Alumni Award. In 1958, Renie married Sterling Wallace Steves, an attorney with the firm Tilley, Hyder and Law, and moved to Fort Worth. Renie soon became a devoted mother raising two daughters and a son.
Renie energetically pursued her passions. She paired her culinary excellence with a love for travel and entertainment. She became famous for hosting nearly 100 people to welcome guests from all around Europe. She orchestrated elegant dinner parties to entertain her husband's clients, featuring menus she perfected by studying Jacques Pepin's book and served with exceptional wines discovered during her global exploration. In 1979, Renie transformed her passion into a profession. She founded The French Apron cooking school in her home (later Cuisine Concepts) and, through it, shared her internationally refined expertise for decades. Renie taught aspiring hostesses to set a proper table, making it a work of art. She enticed luminaries like Stephan Pyles and Diana Kennedy to serve as guest chefs at her classes. With her classic good nature, Renie mused that she had "introduced Fort Worth to artichokes" often featuring them in her lessons.
In her avid passion for knowledge, Renie explored hundreds of wineries around the globe, logging 14 wine trips to Italy, and visiting 17 wineries on a single trip to Spain. Renie visited over 65 countries during her lifetime. She judged international wine competitions, authored cookbooks, served as a talented food stylist, and became a wine columnist for The Fort Worth Star-Telegram and later The Fort Worth Business Press. Over the years, Renie was recognized with awards from Domaine Chandon, the Academy of Wine Communications, and others. In 2018, the Fort Worth Food & Wine Foundation presented Renie with its prestigious Walter Kaufmann Lifetime Achievement Award, named for her late good friend and colleague.
Always fusing her extraordinary passions, Renie hosted Van Cliburn Piano Competition competitors since it began. Notably, in 1977 she hosted finalist Alexander Mndoyants from Russia and, in 2013, his son finalist Nikita Mndoyants. "She treated both like family when they arrived, and never stopped. They remained close forever," recalls Renie's daughter, Stephanie. Her gift for combining a love of food, wine, entertaining, and people explains her dedicated leadership and mentoring skills in esteemed organizations like Les Dames d'Escoffier, the International Association of Culinary Professionals, the American Institute of Wine & Food, the James Beard Foundation, and Friends of Bacchus.
Even into her 80s, the food and wine maven kept up an energetic pace even after she broke her neck. As was typical of Renie, she turned it into a blessing. She gathered family and community around her. When remarking about her incredible support, she enjoyed saying, "Fort Worth is incredible, I received 600 cards and a lot of great Bundt cake." Few things slowed her down. She soon visited wine making legends in Napa Valley, judged a wine competition in Chile, joined friends in culinary expeditions to Cuba and New York, and returned home with copious notes about the best dishes from an array of restaurants. Between trips, she returned to the gym near her home, working out with her personal trainer and taking Uber rides to Dallas for meetings and dinners. Renie hosted and accompanied 23 family members in June 2022 for a week in the Florida Keys.
The family wishes to honor the loving presence of Craig Dearden, M.D., Fontaine Shannon, Karen Williams, Lidia Sanchez, Raoul Aguirre and the Bluebird Caregivers for their gift of companionship and care in Renie's last years of life.
Renie is preceded in death by her former husband, Sterling Wallace Steves; and her brother-in-law, Clifton White Rodes.
She is survived by her sister, Barbara Rodes of Houston; daughter, Stephanie Burk and husband, John R. Burk, M.D., of Fort Worth; daughter, Sarah Steves Eastman and husband Jay Eastman, of Owings Mills, MD; son, Sterling Thomas Steves, Fort Worth; grandchildren, Justin Rodes Burk and wife, Christine Bass Burk, Nashville, TN, Jonathan Sterling Burk and fiancé Samantha Morgan Butler, Leadville, CO, James Thomas Burk and wife, Grace Kittle Burk, Denver, CO, Jay Merritt Eastman and fiancé, Katherine Minh Jackson, Lydia Denton Eastman, and Emily Stephanie Eastman, all of Baltimore, MD, and Sterling Knaack Steves, of Austin; and great-granddaughters, Marion Wilson Burk, Evelyn Mitchell Burk, and Katherine Rodes Burk, of Nashville.
Renie has requested charitable gifts be made to education funds at the Dallas Chapter of Les Dames d'Escoffier; or at the Fort Worth Food & Wine Foundation; or to the Tarrant Area Food Bank.