Stephen Stalker

1949 - 2022

Stephen Don Stalker

1949 - 2022

Steve was born in 1949 in Lompoc, CA to Don and Minniebelle Stalker, who were both life-long residents of Lompoc. He has a younger sister, Deborah Walker, and together they grew up with cousins, Cathy Sharp and Chris Flannery, and all four grandparents: Ray and Dorothy Stalker and Sam and Geneva Hoover. They enjoyed riding horses on Sundays with Grandpa Ray Stalker up in the hills of the Lompoc valley. Ray Stalker was an early Lompoc entrepreneur, founding Stalker 's Apparel store in the historic Rudolph building in Old Towne Lompoc in the 1920 's, where it stayed in operation for 50 years. Steve worked in the store as a teenager alongside his father Don. He graduated from Lompoc High School and was an active community member and youth leader.

Steve attended UCSB and UCSF, where he earned his Doctor of Pharmacy degree. He then completed a post graduate residency at UCSF. Steve was a Clinical Coordinator Pharmacist at Mt. Diablo Hospital (John Muir) in Concord, CA for 27 years where he focused on improving care for patients. In 2001, he went to work as a Regional Medical Scientist at Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK) until his retirement in 2011.

He met his wife of 45 years, the love of his life, Nancy Erickson, at a party at UCSF. The next morning Nancy found a single red rose and poem on her porch. Steve and Nancy were married in 1976, and have two children, Eric Wesley and Lauren Rae (Henderson). Steve was a committed husband and dad. There is nothing he did not do, from yardwork, laundry, cooking, cleaning, and home maintenance to volunteering in his kid's classrooms and leading their Day Care's Board of Directors for 6 years.

Steve loved to make people laugh. Since he grew up in a small town, he talked and connected with strangers frequently, much to the embarrassment of his children when they were teenagers! He wrote the funniest, humble Christmas letters every year. He believed in being open, reasonable, doing the right thing and treating people with kindness as he learned growing up. Steve was kind to everyone, unless you messed with his daughter!

Steve and his family hiked, backpacked, camped and skied, instilling a love of the outdoors in his children as his dad did for him. Our family has wonderful memories in the California Sierras. Steve also enjoyed tennis, racquetball and cycling up Mt. Diablo & in the East Bay Hills.

It's difficult to imagine our world without him, but we have so many joyful memories to warm our hearts. Steve passed away on January 28, 2022, at the age of 72 after a long road with Alzheimer's with his dedicated wife, Nancy, by his side. The family would like to thank the wonderful, caring staff at Carlton Poets Corner in Pleasant Hill and East Bay Hospice, who lovingly helped care for Steve in his later days.

A Celebration of Life will be held in his honor for family and friends. Donations in Steve's memory may be made to the Alzheimer's Association.

View the online memorial for Stephen Don Stalker