Teddy Jay Steenson

October 14, 1943 - December 25, 2010

Teddy was born and raised a farm boy in Wolbach, Nebraska. After graduating from Kearney State College in NE with an M.S. in Education and a double business/math major, he taught for six years in Nebraska. In 1971, he entered DoDDS and began a 30 year career which took him to schools in Holland and Turkey before his final assignment – twenty-six years in Kubasaki High School on Okinawa.

His many facets of school life included chairing the department, being the faculty sponsor of the school newspaper, arranging the flowers for graduations and proms, and initiating and conducting an afternoon lab in his field of business education. He supervised student teachers and served on Education Curriculum Review Committees.

After his initial studies of Ikebana for three years, in 1980 Teddy began teaching this art arriving at the highest degree. Teddy also studied Budo, Shodo,Chado, and Noh Shimai further exploring his love for Japanese culture.

Teddy chose Sarasota, Florida for his retirement years. There he was immensely active in the local DoDDS family reunions, established a data base for all the DoDDS retirees in Florida, and continued to be active in Ikebana International.

The richness and fullness of his life enriched all those who knew him and loved him. Without Teddy’s physical presence here, there is a void in many facets of life as we know it.