Some of the best of Steven A. Beaudoin after graduation.  [Danette (Beaudoin) Fisk]

After graduation, Steve joined the United States Marine Corps honoring the "Semper Fi" for 10 years solid and a few years after that in Active Duty before being ending his core
career with an Honorable Discharge in 1973. During those years he earned ranks and medals for his sharp shooting skills and discharged as a Staff Sargent  He served in the Vietnam War from 1968 - 1971.

Before going off to war he met his first wife Claudia during a Memorial Day Parade through the Lincoln Park VFW. They married in Feb. 1967, had 2 children Steven (1968) and Danette (1971) and moved to Omaha, Nebraska for a few years. In 1973 they returned to Lincoln Park, Michigan where they eventually divorced in 1975.

A bit later on Steve moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota and married Sandy, who he had known in High School. They were married for a few years and divorced.  While in Minnesota, he worked for M.A.T.S. (a transportation service) as a truck driver for 4 years until he was layed off. Dad figured it was time to move on to the western states. Whenever he talked about his time working there, he always talked proudly that he could stop his trucks on a dime and how he could squeeze that big old truck out of a corner in no time.

He ventured to Oregon, having some family and friends there and got a job as a taxidermist. He enjoyed the job which he perfected into an art remarkably. After a while, the taxidermy business was slowing down and Steve decided it was time to head back to his hometown of Jamestown, N.D. to be closer to family. He worked in a Retirement home and had many friends, being friends with him was easy. He was a great guy with a big sense of humor he always had a joke and a smile.A few years later, he moved to Thornton, CO. where his son Steven had moved. There he worked in a nursing home and made many friends. Steve and his son Steven spent many days fishing and shooting. He also found a special time where they would write songs together; Dad didn't sing but had a knack for lyrics.Steve loved to cook, he would cook steaks and grill as much as he could. He found out that he had diabetes (which was a result  from the Agent Orange ) sometime later and in Jan. 1999, he lost  his left foot and shin a few inches below the knee from infection and poor circulation. It was in Feb. of that year that he decided to move back to Michigan to heal, where  he lived with his daughter Danette and son in law Terry for a few years.

 After that, dad was able to draw military benefits and live a rather comfortable life were  he enjoyed his crafting of dream catchers and started a collection in swords, knives and some very favored nicknack's.He mastered his t.v. skills in channel surfing and loved to read anything he could get his hands on about history and had a fascination with WW2 . In 2001, he lost his other leg below the knee due to diabetes, but still maintained living on his own. During that time he welcomed becoming a grandfather to 3 grandchildren: Andrew ('03) , Megan ('05) and Madeline ('04); whom he totally adored and enjoyed spoiling as much as possible. He enjoyed barbeque's and holiday dinners with his daughter and her family. Wednesday nights were his big shopping night with his daughter and 2 grandchildren; it was always a laugh about how he let Andrew call the shots when it came to where to eat before the big trip to Meijer's; which was usually White Castles because Andrew loved the cheese sticks! He also had an electric rider that he would drive around to do a few errands and especially to ride Andrew and Megan around the apartment complex on just for the fun of it. They had a blast with him!!! Watching them on the swings and playing the "gona eat you up game" was a favorite! He loved to make them squeal with laughter! And Garrison Keeler has become a favorite storyteller in his daughter's CD player thamks to Steve.

In Sept. of 2006, his health started declining and in May 2007, he moved out of his apartment of 5 years back to Danette and Terry's.  He enjoyed being with 2 of his grand-kids, Andrew and Megan daily and had a ton of fun with them. In July (2007) before falling extremely ill and ending up in the hospital, he did get a chance to spend a week with his three grandchildren, his son and daughter and their spouses all together.This was a rarety since they were states apart; it was a wonderful week.Steve had always gotten sick but always pulled through with a smile.  He was in the veteran's hospital through October  2007 and was moved to a rehabilitation facility with hopes of a full recovery but took a turn for the worst just after Thanksgiving with a bad lung infection that put him into an incompasitated state. He passed away comfortably on Dec. 2, 2007 ( a Sunday evening) with his family by his side. He was truly a wonderful dad, friend, uncle, brother and Poppy. His greatest traits of  his humor and one liners are often sighted by his grandchildren. No matter how much time anyone spent with dad, he always rubbed off on ya. Both Steven and Danette know there father lives on when they hear his one liners from there children. Sometimes we laugh, sometimes we cry and sometimes we just drop our jaws but when we do we think of dad.

I hope we did our Dad justice, there was a ton more, we tried for the highlights & that had some tears flowing. He has been gone for 4 1/2 years, and it's still really hard to talk about him without crying. (I think they did their "Dad" jusrtice and then some- I'm certain they miss him 'a lot' !)