Henry George Steele

Henry "Hank" George Steele

Age: 98 years.

Born to this world, a son of George and Mary Steele on September 27th, 1927, in the village of Kulukulu, Fiji. Born to eternal life and reunited with his beloved wife Beverly, on December 7th, 2025.

Growing up in Fiji, Henry was one of seven children in his family. He spent his youth playing guitar, swimming, diving, fishing and learning the craft of carpentry.

In 1954, with ambitions of becoming an ordained minister, Henry took a ship from Fiji to New York City; a multi-week, transpacific journey that highlighted Henry's passion for his faith. Henry attended Zion Bible College in Providence, RI, where he went on to meet his wife of 63 years, Beverly Anne Large; a Milwaukee native.

Henry joined the Milwaukee Carpenters' Union in 1966. Some of Henry's most notable carpentry accolades includes Froedtert, Children's and V.A Hospitals, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, US Bank building, Bradley Center, numerous public housing and one of his personal favorites, Potowatomi Bingo Casino. Henry remained extremely proud of his contributions around the great city of Milwaukee, and if you were ever lucky enough to drive around with him, he would eagerly point out all the projects he worked on. He was filled with pride from his hard work, and rightfully so.

Personally, Henry enjoyed nature, taking care of his lawn, and his random collection of classic American vehicles over the years. You could often find him watering the lawn for the second time every day, and cleaning a spot off one of his old Lincolns.

Despite Henry being from the tropical South Pacific, he thoroughly enjoyed the change of seasons, and admired the cold, snowy Wisconsin winters, as he did the hot, summer days. It was common to hear Henry praising the Lord during the rain, snow, blistering heat and gusty days all the same. He also enjoyed observing nature, especially birds and other wildlife. It wasn't uncommon to find him sitting on one of his 1970's lawn chairs that were still in pristine condition, examining a newspaper, whistling to the birds; or maybe sitting on his front porch railing, legs stretched, eating a half of watermelon, feeding peanuts to a trio of squirrels.

Bev and Henry went on to live on the Milwaukee North Side for 52 years where they raised their family of five, Ruth Hafemeister, Henry Jr, Mary (David) Fritsch, Kathy (Tony) Koenigsbauer and Rachel (David) Kash. Henry was a loving grandfather to Samantha (Tim) Miller, Collin (Macey) Steele, Amber (Raul) Hafemeister, Jesse, Zachary, Dustin (Ria) Steele and Alexis. Proud great-grandfather of Damien, Layne, Harvey, Lemmy, Owen, Ozzy, and Orion. Henry and Bev's long-time home in Milwaukee, was filled with joy, family, and countless good meals. Henry would proudly sit at the head of the table every Thanksgiving and Christmas, and say grace before indulging in the incredible cooking of his wife. Henry would give his blessing over the food and the people sitting around it. He asked for us to grow closer together, and closer to God. He asked to bless those who prepared the food, bless his neighbors, bless those he worked with, bless his community. His prayer was like poetry.

In the book of Genesis, God rested on the 7th day. Our beloved father, grandfather, brother, uncle, friend and spiritual guide, Henry, went to rest himself on the 7th day of the week, on the 7th day of the month with a legacy of 7 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.

These sevens across the board, tell us we hit the jackpot with Henry.

The family will be hosting a celebration of life in the Spring of 2026.