ORANGE, Calif.—Orange County community members, police, fire, and past and present political representatives gathered Jan. 13 at the memorial service of former county Supervisor Bill Steiner, who died Dec. 15, 2022, at the age of 85.
About 300 attended the service held at Orange Covenant Presbyterian Church where Steiner had served in leadership roles.
The service included speeches by his granddaughters, other close relatives and friends, and a video that showed key moments and photographs of his life.
He was remembered mostly for his deep passion for helping underserved children and as a pillar in the county.
Steiner began his career in public service in the 1980s when he first served on the Orange Unified School District’s Board of Education. He then represented the city of Orange as a council member before he was appointed by then California Gov. Pete Wilson to the Orange County Board of Supervisors in 1993, where he represented the 4th District until 1999.
Most memorably, he helped raise $8.5 million for the Orangewood Foundation, established in 1981, to create the Orangewood Children’s Home—now called the Orangewood Children and Family Center.
The center acts as a shelter for abused and neglected children in Orange County.
When it first opened in 1985, it housed around 150 children a day, and Steiner was famous for knowing almost all their names, according to longtime center counselor Maureen Loya.
He served as the center’s executive director until 1986, when he resigned to focus on the foundation as its executive director, according to his obituary published in the Orange County Register.
Even in his administrative role, Loya said Steiner would still frequently visit the center.
“His vision was Orangewood,” she said. “He’d rather be eating with the kids at a preschool table and enjoying time with them than he would be in a bigwig office.”
Loya recalled when a young man, who had lived at the center and had struggled with addiction and mental health issues, returned to the center for an open house a few years ago, and met Steiner.
“I introduced them. I said this is the founder of Orangewood. He is the reason why your life changed being at this place, the vision was from Bill,” she said.
She said seeing the two together looked like a grandfather with his grandchild, and that was the last time she remembers seeing Steiner.
“His heart was always about the kids ... Afterwards I thought this represents what Orangewood is all about, the two became one,” she said.
Mark A. Murphy, a longtime friend of Steiner’s after their paths crossed during one of the foundation’s 10K runs a couple of decades ago, told The Epoch Times the two had lunch every Saturday for about 25 years.
Murphy said Steiner became his mentor after he replaced him on the Orange City Council after Steiner’s election to the Board of Supervisors.
He said Steiner taught him to always work hard, push yourself to your limit, and to then leave the world quietly.
“The biggest thing I learned from him is don’t slow down. Go 100 miles an hour until you’re absolutely spent and then check out quietly,” he said. “In politics, you have lots of acquaintances but very few friends, and he was a true friend of mine.”
He said his favorite memory was encouraging Steiner to purchase his first two-door sports car, telling him he was at a point in his life where he could put himself first for once.
He said Steiner never regretted buying the car, and was always excited to talk about driving it.
“Weekly for the next six months ... he would go out of his way to thank me,” he said, remembering, at the time, Steiner would be grinning from ear to ear.
Pat Buttress, another close friend and the current aide to Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner told The Epoch Times she felt like a part of her life is now missing with his death but felt uplifted after his memorial service.
But she said seeing his photograph at the service and knowing she won’t see him again in person, “was a little heartbreaking.”
She said the two would see each other weekly at the Orange Rotary Club, where she is its current president and Steiner was a member.
She said she was always impressed that Steiner, who lived alone, would drive himself to the club’s meetings, despite having health issues, which required him to carry an oxygen tank.
“He had to be independent. He got to stay that way and he always was,” she said in a previous interview.
Steiner died during a solo trip to visit his grandson in New York, which Buttress said was fitting since, she said, he loved his family and his grandchildren above all.
“Bill went his way and I think that’s really important,” she said.
