Steven Keith Winter

Steven Keith Winter, of Logan, Utah, age 71, died peacefully on March 29, 2024 in the University Hospital, Salt Lake City, Utah of complications due to kidney disease.   Kathy, John and Liz, holding his hand, were there at his passing.

He was born June, 30, 1952 in Independence, Missouri, the first of nine children, to Donald Keith and Carolyn Elizabeth Bailey Winter.                                

Being the son of a military man, he grew up all over the world including Missouri, Germany, Kentucky, Washington and finally Utah.  He graduated from Logan High School in 1971.  He served honorably nearly five years in the Army, receiving parachutist badge, sharpshooter qualification, and good conduct medal.  

He started out a happy son, with an easy smile, until he experienced a troubling stretch after having been treated poorly by high school peers which put his life on a difficult trajectory.

That said, if someone, say someone writing his obituary, were to describe Steve’s life, they would not start with a long list of accomplishments or titles.  They might describe it more as a journey.  A good journey but a journey through some lonely, rough patches.  A few decades and miles into it, he told Mom, with signature tender-heartedness, that he struggled with loneliness and that “he longed to have someone for himself.” 

Stretching over several decades, the journey started out as a soldier, then a cowhand, then a truck driver.  If someone wanted to lie about themselves to find a wife, this would not be the vocation list they would use (betting on soldiers, cowhands and truck drivers to take no offense).  But that was his life.  And so, the desire and stuff to find that “someone” didn’t match up with the fate life handed to him.  Long story short, Steve never married and so he leaves no down-line survivors, only lateral ones, seven siblings: Deborah (Randy) Steadman, Jeff (Lisa) Winter, Katherine (Scott) Williams, Paul (Joyce) Winter, Joel (Wendee) Winter, Elizabeth (Allen) Livingston, John (Kim) Winter, a dear friend, Pam Treece, and some sad ward members and friends who will miss his gregarious laugh not to mention his carrot cake, rhubarb pie, liver and onions, a fabulous roast, and biscuits and gravy all of which he loved to make and with whom he loved to share very generously.  He was preceded in death by his parents and a younger brother, Greg (Laurie) Winter.

His journey having started happy, ended happy.  When he was 48, after showing signs he had been touched at family reunions, he told a teary-eyed Mom he wanted to come back.  He decided then and there he was going to come back to his long-lost faith.   Though having strayed from his faith, he never let an opportunity pass without defending it or even taking a stand for it.  One time he overheard someone use the Lord’s name profanely and asked him not to do that.   It takes courage, determination, and humility to turn about-face, confess embarrassing wrongs, stop habits cold turkey and put oneself back “on the Path,” but that’s what Steve did in 2000 when he came back to his faith.  We watched his countenance brighten, his demeanor become more gracious, and his smile come out more confidently.  It was a wonder to behold the Savior clasp onto Steve’s outstretched hands and bring him back into light and life.

Lastly, Steve would want it to be known, because he was never shy about his testimony, that he left this mortal existence a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He was an ardent participant in Sunday School, sharing his witness of Jesus Christ whenever he had the chance. 

If you feel the need to contribute, it’s certain Steve would want you to make a nice pie or, with a big grin and laugh, liver and onions, for your friends and family.  

Viewing from 9:30-10:30, Saturday, April 20^th; funeral services from 11:00-12:00 all at Nelson Funeral home, 162 East 400 North, Logan, Utah; internment at Richmond Cemetery with military honors.