Dirl Hane Steffe Sr.

1931 - 2025

Dirl Hane Steffe Sr

March 27, 1931 - May 3, 2025

Dirl H. Steffe Sr. went home to be with Shirley on May 3, 2025, from Seven Sisters Living Center in Hot Springs, South Dakota. He deeply loved his family and especially his wife, children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Dirl also loved the Lord with all his heart, mind, and soul.

He was born on March 27, 1931 in a farmhouse near Moville, Iowa to Hilburn and Lucille (Hane) Steffe. Dirl attended rural schools in Woodbury County Iowa and graduated from Moville High School in 1949. After high school he joined the Air National Guard and spent seven years in service, including two years of active duty during the Korean War serving as an aircraft mechanic.

In 1958 he graduated from Westmar College in LeMars, Iowa with a Physics major. He taught in Merrill and LeMars, until he left to obtain a masters degree from the University of South Dakota in 1962. That same year Dirl took a job as a Physics Professor at Chadron State College in Chadron, Nebraska where he remained until 1985 when he retired. During his tenure he held positions of faculty president, faculty negotiator, also president of Lambda Delta Lambda National Honorary Physical Science Fraternity, faculty secretary, and senate president, as well as planetarium director. He also attended additional schools at the University of Arizona, University of California-Berkley, University of Colorado, and Texas A&M University.

Dirl was a co-investigator CSC in Hail Research, specializing in trace analysis of rain and hail. This resulted in publication of several scientific papers including one on particulate matter in Nebraska's atmosphere. He detected the radioactive fallout from Chernobyl in Western NE, much higher than the rest of the country. Besides his research, he helped establish the first computer system for CSC, along with the first planetarium.

Dirl was an avid race car enthusiast, building race cars from scratch, traveling to rural race tracks. He loved to star gaze, a love he developed as an astronomy teacher, and he loved lemon meringue pie!

Dirl married Shirley Larsen on June 26, 1953 in Quimby, Iowa. They had four children, Dirlene (Neil) Wheeler, Dirl Jr. (Vicki), Dianne (Webb) Johnson, and Denise (Bill) Atkinson. His descendants include 10 grandchildren, and 18 greatgrandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Shirley, and two grandchildren, Angie O'Bryan and Myriah Johnson, his parents, three brothers, and one sister.

Services will be at the Crawford United Methodist Church at 11:00 a.m. on May 13, 2025, with burial at the Marsland Cemetery. Chamberlain McColleys Funeral Home in charge of arrangements. A memorial has been established for educational endeavors, along with an endowment at Chadron State College. A lunch will follow internment at Crawford United Methodist Church in Crawford, Nebraska.