Stephen Preston Rodine

Stephen P. Rodine, 77, of Casper, WY passed away on June 28,2025 surrounded by his family.

Steve (Stephen Preston Bennett)was born in Des Moines, Iowa on Dec. 1, 1947 to Mary Ellen Tilton Bennett and Earl Gordon Bennett. After losing his father in a plane crash in 1952, he and his mother and sisters moved back to Des Moines. Later his mother met and married Paul Edward Rodine, the man who became his beloved father. The family moved to West Des Moines and then moved to Aberdeen, South Dakota and then to Wisconsin. He graduated high school in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin and went to the University of Wisconsin in Madison before joining the Air Force and serving in Vietnam, where he met and kept lifelong friends. He graduated from the University of Utah with a journalism degree. However, he found his dream job being a truck driver; a profession he held on and off for most of his life. He loved the open road, hated the interstate, and learned astronomy by driving east on his route through Utah and Colorado. Steve had wanderlust; he traveled throughout the US and Canada, Central and South America, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. He loved little towns and stayed off the beaten trails. His travel advice was to ‘keep your valuables in your cowboy boots-if they got your boots off, you have bigger problems.’

Steve loved motorcycles. He traveled throughout Australia frequently and began dealing Harley’s there with friends who became like family. Australia became a second home to him, one he returned to often.

Steve did settle briefly in southern Colorado and married, which gave him two children that he adored. His wanderlust was too strong though and he moved frequently throughout the US: eventually moving to southern Maryland to be with family and raise his son for almost 20 years, living on a tobacco farm and making close, deep friendships. He married again, and went back to Australia for 6 years, before finally settling in Casper with his son and returning to truck driving. He always loved the open skies and open roads of Wyoming.

Steve could make, build, and do anything. Any home he lived in long enough would be left with a clothesline, a new porch, fresh paint and usually a chicken coop. He loved to work at hard, laborious tasks. He was a voracious reader and always had a pile of books by his bed. He knew something about everything and had an insatiable desire to learn. He loved baseball and would take his kids on summer road trips to see games from the cheap seats; his goal was to see a game in every stadium in the country. He chewed, smoked, drank pbr and southern comfort. He lived life exactly how he wanted, said what he wanted, and gave brutal, honest advice. They don’t make many people like him anymore and he will be so missed.

Steve was preceded in death by his parents; Mary Ellen and Paul Rodine, and by his favorite dog, Buddy.

He is survived by his two sisters, Sandy (Chris) and Peggy (Pat), his children Ty and Ali (Clayton), his grandchildren Kendon, Scarlett and Sierra, his beloved nephews and nieces, his friends peppered all over the world, and his dog, Milo.