Stephen M. Hatfield

Stephen M. Hatfield, "Steve", age 77, long-time resident of McMinnville, OR, passed away on December 26, 2024.
His parents, Melvin and Delores Hatfield were also long-time residents of McMinnville.
Steve is survived by his wife of 52 years, Stephanie, as well as daughters Erin and Meg, and son Christopher. Christopher and his wife Libby are parents to Stanford "Ford" Hatfield, age 3 years. Steve also has a younger sister, Linda Hatfield Gardner.
Steve lived a very full life from beginning to end with much vigor and an unstoppable attitude.
Some highlights of his life are as follows:
He served in the US Army in Okinawa during the Vietnam War.
In his early twenties, he was chosen to participate in a prestigious apprenticeship program with Lockheed Aerospace in California, where he resided at the time.
He was very involved in drag racing at the Legendary Lyon's Drag Strip and witnessed the introduction of "funny" cars. He knew Don Garlits and "Big Willy", two well-known racers at the time.
After he and Stephanie were married in 1972, they soon moved to Oregon to join Steve's parents.
Shortly after moving to Oregon, Steve started working for Bingham Willamette, (now known as Sulzer Bingham), a global supplier of centrifugal pumps and related services for Oil and Gas, Hydrocarbon Processing, Power and many other industries. While working for Bingham, Steve played a role in the building of the Channel Tunnel (often called the "Chunnel" for short), an undersea tunnel linking southern England and northern France.
After many years of employment with Bingham, Steve found an exciting new opportunity with Oregon Iron Works (now known as Vigor). Vigor has carved out a niche in hydroelectric systems, unmanned seaplanes, nuclear-containment equipment, steel bridge girders and space-launch platforms, among other endeavors. Steve worked on many high-profile government contracts and classified military project while there, before later retiring from Vigor.
Steve had many hobbies and interests including fishing (he went on the annual McMinnville JC fishing trip for over 40 years), he participated in competitive online crossword puzzle challenges, played online Solitaire, and was always reading and gathering new information and keeping to being a life-time learner. He also had a talent for smoking the most amazing meats and cheeses in his MAC smoker. One of his favorite hobbies was working on his old cars with his close friend, Ron Becker. Steve was also an enthusiastic lover of Koi and enjoyed caring for his school in the pond down in the backyard. He also had a lot of fun spending time with friends enjoying microbrews and the Growlers Tap.
Condolences can be sent to the family at stephanie.hatfield@me.com.
His funeral service is scheduled for Wednesday, January the 8th, 2025 at 10:30am in Newberg at St. Peter's Catholic Church. At 2:30pm, the burial will take place at the Veteran's Cemetery in Portland.