Stephen "Steve" Maersch

Stephen Peter Maersch
"Steve"
"Stephen Maersch, journalist, has gone to that Great Newsroom in the Sky on Friday, January 12, 2024. He was 86. He would like to have hung around a bit longer, but his heart, bladder, and kidneys got into a big fight and couldn't agree to a truce.
Steve, who lived in Greendale with his wife, Judy, the best decision he made with his life, was born in Sheboygan on Nov. 5, 1937, to the late Catherine (Steffen) and Fred Maersch. He graduated from Holy Name Catholic Grade School and Sheboygan North High School. He then served two years in the US Navy on the USS Mississinewa, a 38,000 ton (loaded) seagoing filling station serving the 70 ships in the Mediterranean's 6th Fleet. One day he was helming the ship when it almost collided with the ammunition ship Shasta. Not his fault.
Steve is survived by his wife, brothers Philipp (Gloria) of Arvada, CO, James, (Faye) of West Bend, and sisters Mary (the late Donald) Kullmann, of Sheboygan, and Margaret (Edward)Hozie of Fairfield Township, OH. Also, by Julia Hardin Judy's daughter from her first marriage, and two wonderful grandsons, Joel and James Gondek, and their parents, Julia and Greg, and many nieces and nephews.
A 1964 graduate of the University Wisconsin, Steve worked 25 years for The Milwaukee Journal, before that the Sheboygan Press (part time), the Madison Capital Times (part time), and, after graduation, the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Daily News, Melbourne (Australia)Herald and briefly for the Durban (South Africa) Daily News.
Maersch loved to travel and has been to all 50 states and 32 countries. In 1968-'69 he took a trip around the world, working two months as a crewman on a ship carrying 30,000 bombs to Vietnam (not his proudest moment). He then traveled to Hawaii, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, where he worked of the Melbourne Herald for 8 months. After Australia Steve traveled to Japan, then to Nakhodka, Russia, and crossed the then-Soviet Union on the Trans-Siberian Railway, a seven-day, 5,772-mile journey to Moscow.
Four days into the trip, the train reached Irkutsk and almost all the Westerners left the train. Steve and a young Navy doctor named James, who was mustering out of service from Vietnam, were the only Americans aboard.
Steve knew that the Russians mixed sexes in train compartments but didn't think it would happen to him. He was wrong. When he returned to his compartment, he found three Russian women about his age (early 30s) stowing their gear in there. Steve chivalrously took an upper berth. The three women called him "Steef." Steef referred to them as his "Steppe sisters." They spent the next three days in that compartment. Noooo hanky-panky! Steve toured Moscow for a few days, then continued by rail across Europe to London, where he landed a job with Reuters News Service on Fleet Street. He flew back to the States to await approval of a required labor permit, but then decided he had done enough traveling and landed a job as a copy editor with The Milwaukee Journal. It was his best career move ever.
Maersch loved writing headlines and won the Milwaukee Press Club's award for headline-writing 14 times. His favorite head was on a short story about the American Procrastination Society meeting in Philadelphia: (I'll do the headline later). He has been enshrined in the Wisconsin Media Hall of Fame.
Steve would like to thank all the doctors, nurses and caregivers at St. Luke's Hospital and elsewhere for taking such great care of him over the years."
Steve also would like to thank Judy for letting him write his own obituary.
"So long everybody!"
Visitation will be held on Saturday, January 27, 2024, at CHURCH AND CHAPEL FUNERAL HOME,1875 N. Calhoun Rd., Brookfield from 11:00AM until the time of Service at 12:00PM.
In lieu of flowers, Steve would appreciate donations to his favorite charity, the Jim Luther New Hope Center (formerly known as the St. Hyacinth Food Pantry), 1414 W. Beecher Street, Milwaukee,WI 53215. (www.jluthernhc.com)
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