Mary Jeanne Steele

Mary Jeanne Dupuis Steele
Resident of Gainesville
Jeanie Steele, age 93, died peacefully following a short illness on October 10, 2025 while on hospice care with Northeast Georgia Hospice. She was 4 days shy of her 94th birthday.
Jeanie was born in Madison, Wisconsin on October 14, 1931. She grew up in Sparta, Wisconsin, where she was both her high school's Salutatorian and Homecoming Queen. She began her college days at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Before graduating, she married her high school sweetheart, Sidney R. Steele, on May 26, 1951. For twenty-four years, Jeanie served as a military housewife and mother, as Sid was a US Army officer and graduate of the West Point Military Academy in New York. Together, they lived in Germany, Thailand, and multiple US posts in many states, including Georgia, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Jeanie and Sid were happily married 66 years, and had dated for 5 years prior to their wedding.
Jeanie embarked on her own career in 1975, when she returned to school to complete her Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. She, then, earned a Master in Divinity from Washington Theological Union in Washington, D.C. in 1985. Finally, she received a Doctorate of Education in Counseling from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Falls Church, VA in 1990. Upon graduation, after fifteen years of schooling, she became a marriage and family therapist. In 1995, she opened her own therapy office, Belle Haven Family Therapy Associates in Alexandria, VA, where she practiced until she moved to Locust Grove, VA in 2002, whereupon she counseled through Lake of the Woods Church. In 2009, she and Sid moved to Lanier Village Estates, and she embarked on counseling at Good News Clinics in Gainesville until her retirement in 2014, when her husband became ill with Parkinsons. At this time, she dedicated herself to care for him. Nevertheless, retirement did not prevent her from offering counseling and prayer for others until the day she died.
Jeanie had a heart to love and serve others in need. She participated in many outreaches through church missions and her professional work over the years, including establishing a group home for Vietnamese refugees, co-founding and directing a group home for troubled teenage boys, serving in a soup kitchen, counseling various populations, including women who were homeless, women residing in a battered women's shelter, the terminally ill and the bereaved, individuals with AIDS, and individuals with limited financial means. Her faith in and love for the Lord as a devout Catholic was the foundation of her ministry. She was a big part of the Catholic Women's Ordination Movement, and would have loved to have served as an ordained Catholic priest had it been made available to her. She loved to lead prayer groups in centering prayer. In the last year of her life, she followed in her father's footsteps, embracing the Benedictine Rule, which was a religious way of life. She wanted to be remembered also for her love for her family, friends, and the community at Lanier Village Estates, as well as for classical music, the visual arts, and reading.
Jeanie is preceded in death by her parents, Myrtle May Wheeler Dupuis and Ernest Joseph Dupuis, her siblings, Richard J. Dupuis, and Carol A. Dupuis Kallas, as well as her husband, Sidney R. Steele, and three children, an unnamed son at birth, Joseph, and Priscilla Mary. Jeanie is survived by four children: Peg Raposo (Ray), Miami, FL, Bob Steele (Linda), Ashburn, VA, Fr. J. Steele, CSC, Kendallville, IN, and Jenn Gooby (Philippe), Dahlonega, GA. She is also survived by seven grandsons: Ryan Raposo (Shelbie), Brad Raposo, Tyler Steele (Rachel), Matt Steele, Jake Steele, Nathan Gooby, and Jon Gooby.
A Memorial Service will be held on Wednesday, November 5, 2025 at 10am at the Lanier Village Estates Chapel, 4000 Village View Dr., Gainesville, GA 30506. An additional Funeral Mass will be held at West Point, NY (date to be determined).
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Good News Clinics, 810 Pine St., Gainesville, GA 30501. Online condolences can be made at www.memorialparkfuneralhomes.com. Memorial Park Riverside Chapel, 989 Riverside Drive, Gainesville, GA 30501 770-297-6200.
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