Marilyn and family, it’s been a while since Steve’s passing and you are on my mind as I watch the birds in our yard. I pray you are well and are finding some peace.  You are always in my thoughts and prayers. Steve will always be part of my family and live in my heart along with my parents and my brother Ken.  I’m sure they’re up there having a few laughs.  Be well and know you are thought of often with love. 

Dr. LeClair had an outsized impact on me and many other people I know.  His passion for science & research, and his drive for excellence was daunting and inspiring for me as a new graduate student from India in 1991. His drive and research initiatives at the Air Force and the Missile Defense Agency supported (funded) several teams of graduate students, researchers, and kick-started at least two companies.  I am one of the people funded, challenged, and encouraged by him and his work over many years.

He was a very kind and warm person.  I would meet him only every couple of years but he was always a pleasure to talk to.

When I met him recently after 10 years, I learnt that, after retirement Steve had been traveling to Latin America to provide medical services directly to communities in the past few years volunteering his time and providing financial support.

It was an honor and a pleasure to have known Dr. Steve LeClair.

Alok Mathur.

It has been so long ago that I can barely remember when my husband and I first met Steve.  It was a funny kind of first meeting - my husband had been corresponding with him, and invited him to come.  We were both a bit surprised when he did!

At that time we lived in a very rural area of the California Sierra foothills - beautiful, but remote.  The main mode of transportation that we had at that time was a 20-year-old rattletrap Datsun pickup (the name is now Nissan) held together with chewing gum and baling wire.

I could see he was very surprised - shocked, even (although trying hard to hide it) by this wild woman (neither my husband nor myself had ever previously met him - my husband had stayed behind to try to make some order out of the shambles in which we lived) rolling up to the curb in a vehicle that seemed on the verge of falling apart - and our home was 80 miles from the airport.

Frankly, I was impressed by his courage - as he blithely threw his bags in the back of a total stranger's truck, opened the door - which gave a mighty squeak - and bravely climbed in.

This led to a friendship that lasted for decades.  Marriages fail, and life moves on - I lost track of Steve over time, but my (now ex) husband remained in contact.

I was very much saddened to hear of his passing.  Although I had always hoped to see him again one day, maybe just have a coffee somewhere, talk over old times - it was not to be.

I will always remember his kind smile, the tone of his voice, his cheerfulness, his sense of adventure (on one of his visits he wanted to go horseback riding!).  

His love of cheesecake.  His bright and burning intelligence, his unmatched compassion, his sense of wonder.

But, perhaps most of all, his innate and enduring kindness, and his generosity. 

Steve was one of the good ones.  God doesn't make too many of these, because He wants to give the rest of us something to strive for.

Goodbye, Steve.  Thanks for the memories.

Helen Park
Yuba City, Ca





I cannot attend the service, but I'll say this: Steve was driven to excel; I recall walking for miles around Anaheim with him talking him through his concern that he was not going to succeed writing his PhD. He succeeded. I worked with him at WPAFB on a project which got a patent and awards for saving money and resulting in the ability to return A-10 Warthogs to service.

Steve was very important to me and my family. He will be deeply missed.

One of my favorite memories of Uncle Steven is he always cared about the stories I was writing. Even when I was little, he would ask about them. It was obvious that he took them seriously, and that care—knowing HE would read them—made me want to create something really excellent. He was an exceptional man, and it’s wonderful to see more glimpses of that truth through the memories that others have shared. I will miss him, and look forward to seeing him again in glory.

I knew Steve as Dr. LeClair. From my perspective as an engineer, he was a role model of what I aspire to be: consummately professionalism, visionary, objective, and persistent in the pursuit of what he believed to be possible. Steve was a driving force in advancing several innovations in the aerospace and defense sector. It was a privilege to work in his sphere of influence, and to be edified by his vision for better engineering methods. I am saddened by the news of his passing, and wish peace and comfort to his beloved family.

Dear Marilyn,	
Maureen and I were so shocked and saddened to learn of Steve’s sudden illness and untimely death.
 	Steve asked me to take a one-year sabbatical leave with his group at Wright Patterson in 1989 and I ended up staying 12 years. We spent a number of very happy years exploring the application of artificial intelligence and sensor technology to materials and processing; little did we expect (well maybe Steve did) that those initial projects would expand into collaboration with scientists throughout the world. It was not all hard work, good times and many fine stories could be told!
We had hoped to get together in Big Bend after my move back to Texas but, alas, that is not to be; until we meet again, Rest in Peace, Steve.
With our deepest condolences,
John and Maureen Maguire


This photo is of Uncle Steven and Zachary Wingerd (age 7) when Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Steven  were visiting us in California. He always spent time talking and listening to our children and on this trip I think playing baseball with our boys. We will miss him. Look forward to seeing him again someday! 

Steve, Stan and I built a dugout fort between his home and the neighbor’s, back in grade school.  He designed it!

Courtesy of Jen LeClair
Enjoy some photos from his younger years ❤️

Courtesy of Jen LeClair
Thought some of you might enjoy these pictures from younger years. 

Marlin I at at a loss for words you have our Deepest Sympathies,
I will always remember Steve as our Stevie wonder.
I will always remember our trip to. Visit you two in TN and our stop at Deliverance (gas station) and how we laughed. The Smokey mountains and Gatilinburg it was a wonderful time.
May all your wonderful memories help you through this difficult time.
Our love
Doreen and Dale Bonfigt

I am so sorry to hear of Steve's passing.  We worked together about 20 years ago doing manufacturing research for the US Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio. He was highly motivated, highly energetic, and uncommonly brilliant in his pursuit of expanding understanding of manufacturing processes of vital importance to the Air Force and the nation. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him.

We are so sorry for your loss, Kevin & family.  We will keep you in our thoughts & pray for your family .

Marilyn, we will miss Steven so much.  We loved talking to him, being out in the boat with both of you and Al says, just being with him and hearing his views on "any" subject.  His care and concern for our family made him even more precious to us.  On one trip, he got up very early to have a discussion with our grandson, Will, on the subject of whether the atomic bomb was fison or fusion.  (I am not certain of the spelling).  Steven will be greatly missed by us.

So Steve was arguably my favorite uncle in my younger years.  He and my Father, Randy Achten, went to college together so they would hook up often on the Holidays and I know I monopolized a lot of their time.  He suffered endless hours of questions about the Airforce and gave me an Airforce flight cap I still have to this day.  He took me out near an airfield to see a bunch of military planes and was, in general, an awesome uncle to have.  I am glad to see he was still sporting that mustache that rivaled Burt Renolds stash, only now in my older years can I fully respect that stash in all its glory.  Best of luck Steve in your next chapter, love to all of you he left behind.  

I knew Steve since we became friends in high school. Throughout the 50 some years that followed, we shared life's trials, tribulations, successes and memories. He was a brilliant man that looked at issues quite differently than most. He always observed a problem with a sense of "how can we solve this".  The world  and the USA is a better place because Of Steve.  Sadly, we must say goodbye for now.

Get ready God! You will have your hands full with this one! He may just end up being your adviser! Bless him and keep him until we meet again.

I will always remember our trip to Tennesee and stopping at the Gas station to use bathroom, and getting in the truck and laughing so hard as we felt we just came out of Deliverance.  Rest in peace Stevie wonder. 


OBITUARY

Steven LeClair

31 October, 1948 – 9 February, 2020

Crouse-Kauber-Fraley Funeral Home

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