DALE STEFFENS

 The Gerstein family invites all to celebrate Ed on Saturday, September 10,2022 from 4:00-7:00 pm at 

Allen and Joyce Gerstein's Backyard, 1400 Linden, Northbrook, Il. 60062. Please RSVP to Bob Gerstein at rgerstein@marshallip.com with the number of people in your group by September 3. Look forward to seeing you. 

Jim and I spent my 19th birthday at Lennon's tap on Madison near Central (no ID's). Ended up talking ( Jim in a thick brogue) to some elder of Chicago's finest. One was the father of a friend that lived a block away from me in my old neighborhood. They ended up giving us a ride home. Jim stayed in character with the brogue the entire night. Needless to say we weren't feeling any pain and needed that ride home. Have plenty of great memories of Jim from school to camping up high in Yosemite to hundreds of bars and adventures in between. 
A great guy to all. 

Will really miss Ed. He also went on the meat deliveries with Wick too. Had so many great laughs and memories . I can still hear his voice. He had a ton of extraordinary adventures and stories very well told. Always an optimist despite having some really hard knocks. Fortunately I was able to have lunch with Ed, his wife Judy and son Max before he went in the hospital. Missing him now. Difficult to lose friends of 63 years. I remember meeting him in 8th grade and his legs looked fourteen feet long. 

I remember the Freeze Bank too, Bill. Making deliveries in the Robert Taylor Homes on the south side and into the far western suburbs singing rock and country music at the top of our lungs. Jim was a serious worker. Any project we did he took over. He limited my participation to grunt work. He was also a great musician. Many good memories of him playing guitar with Dennis Kissane and how excited  Doug Goodwillie was when Jim walked in with his guitar to an informal jam session at Doug's and started right in with some Freddy King rythems. One day when he was playing Sultans of Swing some passerbys heard him playing and rushed up to his apartment and begged him to join their band. And you're right Doug he was tough . On a Canadian fishing trip Jim, Joe Accardo and I were standing near a waterfall fishing and Jim was catching all the fish so he let us try his spot. We caught nothing. Next he gave us his pole, still nothing. When he went back to his spot he immediately started catching again. We always talked about Jim on our fishing trips since then but for whatever reason were not able to connect. When talking about it with my son he said to really pursue it and make him an offer he couldn't refuse. Shortly thereafter I was talking to Pete Mavrelis about it and got the bad news. See your friends while you can. 

Posted on: Oct 06, 2020 at 11:31 AM

Posted on: Feb 08, 2019 at 11:21 AM

Happy Birthday Bill
Hope all is well.

Happy Birthday Mike

Posted on: Jul 01, 2018 at 1:12 AM

Happy Birthday Gorgeous

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Mike,
Good to see you at our March Madness thing. Stay well.

Happy Birthday Joe,
We had a lot of laughs and some good times.

Posted on: Jan 24, 2015 at 5:42 PM

You looking great is no surprise . Beauty , brains and enough personality for the whole class . Glad you're happy, you deserve it .