Carroll Steele, 75, Acampo, Calif.

Published 10:48 am Wednesday, December 12, 2012

The funeral service for Carroll Dale Steele, of Acampo, Calif., will be at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Graham-Hitch Mortuary in Pleasanton, Calif. Interment will be at the Pleasanton Pioneer Cemetery. Visitation will be from 11 a.m. to noon on Saturday at the Graham-Hitch Mortuary before the service.

Carroll Steele

Carroll was born on Feb. 9, 1937, in Alden, the son of Melvin and Irma (Schmidt) Steele. He grew up in Alden on a farm and graduated from Alden High School.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army when he was 18 and served in an active and reserve role from 1955 to 1961.

He lived in Albert Lea and Minneapolis until he was 36 when he moved to California with his family.

He got degrees at Foothill College in Los Altos, Calif., and San Jose State University, San Jose, Calif., where he received his master’s of business administration.

Among some of the places he worked are: Streater in Albert Lea; Control Data in Minneapolis, Mosinee Paper Mills in Wausau, Wis.; Measurex in Cupertino, Calif.; BTI in Sunnyvale, Calif.

On Sept. 7, 1991, Carroll was united in marriage to Jo Hesterly at Immanuel Lutheran Church in San Jose, Calif. They lived in San Jose until 2000, when they retired and bought a small ranch in Acampo, Calif. It is here where Carroll started collecting vintage John Deere tractors and built a barn to house all of them. Carroll loved playing softball, as he was on as many as three teams at any one time. His greatest passion was being surrounded by his family.

Carroll died Dec. 7, 2012, at Kaiser Foundation Rehabilitation Center in Vallejo, Calif. He was 75. He is survived by his loving wife of 21 years, Jo; children: Scott (Diane) Steele of Roseville, Calif., Kent (Chary) Steele of Pleasanton, Calif., Terry (JoAnn) Steele of San Jose, Calif., (all three are sons of Margaret Steele); stepchildren: Sabrina (David) Kampfe of Avondale, Ariz., Wendal (Dayle) Hesterly of Auburn, Calif.; grandchildren: Sharon (Greg) Fenton of Lincoln, Calif., Ryan Steele of Manteca, Calif., Alysha Steele of Pleasanton, Calif., Sara Steele of Pleasanton, Calif., Andrew Steele of Pleasanton, Calif., Jonathan Steele of Pleasanton, Calif., Shaun Steele of San Jose, Calif., Kelsea Steele of San Jose, Calif.; stepgrandchildren: Tyrone Milner Kampfe of San Jose, Calif., Coleton Kampfe of Avondale, Ariz., Casey Kampfe of Avondale, Ariz., Sharylen Hesterly of Auburn, Calif.; great-grandchildren: Amanda Fenton of Lincoln, Calif., Kelly Fenton of Lincoln, Calif. He is also survived by his mother Irma Steele of Albert Lea, sister Janice (Holland) Laak of Inver Grove Heights, bother Richard (Beverley) Steele of Alden, sister Myrna (Harold) Paulson of Georgetown, Texas; sister-in-law Pat Steele of Albert Lea, and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his father Melvin Steele and his brother Dennis Steele.