The following information was provided by Steve's brother and sister:

Many of Steve's classmates have shared their experiences with and memories of Steve on this site, and his family appreciates the kind words more than you can know. We thought some of you might be interested in Steve' years following high school.
 
The summer after graduation from CLCHS Steve had one final summer playing organized baseball (his favorite sport) for the Crystal Lake American Legion team. One last chance to play baseball with friends like Barney Barchard, Larry Reimer, John Scotillo (now Judge Scotillo), Brian Gallagher and others. As usual in those days CL had a winning season but lost in the McHenry County championship game to Woodstock. After that Steve's sports activities were pretty much limited to perfecting his golf game, frequently shooting in the high 70s and beating his older brother on a regular basis.
 
In the fall of 1969 Steve attended the U of I in Champaign along with a number of other CLCHS grads including his good friends Mark Hamby and Dave Krchak. The three of them remained close friends through 4 years of college. In the spring of 1973 Steve graduated from the U of I with a B.A. in Liberal Arts and his academic achievements were recognized by election to Phi Beta Kappa his senior year.
 
In his final semester at the U of I, Steve student taught English in the Arlington Heights school district. Although the Arlington district offered him a job that fall, he decided to return to Champaign to work for a while to raise money for grad school. He rented a small apartment in Champaign from a young couple he knew from undergrad days and took a night job at the Champaign post office. Steve continued this solitary arrangement through 1974, but early in 1975 it started getting to him and in April of 1975 he came back home to CL to get the help of his family in dealing with his personal issues. Despite the constant support and best efforts of his mother, the rest of his family and many family friends over the next few months, Steve decided to deal with the problems the only way he knew how and died on September 19, 1975.
 
Fortunately Steve got to meet and spend quality time with his extended family during and after college, including his sister-in-law Nancy, his brother-in-law Bob and his nephew and 3 of his 4 nieces. The little ones seemed to be the one positive element in Steve's life during his final days. Until his final few months Steve remained the same quiet, intelligent, honorable person so many of you remember. As so many have observed, he was one of life's good guys.
 
Steve is sorely missed by his brother and sister and their families, but as time has passed, it has become preferable to remember the 24 wonderful years shared with him rather than the tragic final months. Although the family has often discussed what we could have done differently, we realize that everyone who knew of Steve's situation, and cared about him, did the best they could to help him - but to no avail. So we encourage all his classmates to remember Steve fondly and without remorse over what might have been.

Ralph Hardy & Diane Hardy Hoerter

Please post your memories of Steve below.