Benjamin Roy Steed was born August 23, 1962, to Arthur and Mary Steed in Downey, California. He attended school in the Los Angeles area and graduated from Lakewood High School. Ben attended Cerrito City College.
Ben then became a quality engineer where he excelled working at Centri-Lift and Hughes in Huntington Beach.
Later he moved to Modesto where he married his first wife and had three children, Thomas, Carol and Shaun. He became a product engineer and worked for Racor, a division of Parker Filtration. He was a member of the American Society for Quality Control.
All his life, Ben had expressed his interest in space exploration, and anything to do with space. He read science fiction and joined the Stanislaus Amateur Astronomer Club where he served as the newsletter editor.
Ben had always wanted to journey into space. He joined a local Star Trek fan club and there he met his soulmate, Sue, who shared his interests. Ben and Sue later married.
Ben was a good man, an honorable man. He loved life and embraced it with gusto. He played cards and laughed heartily at a good joke. He always said, "If you can't laugh at life and yourself, what's the point?"
Ben believed in living every day to its fullest. And he believed that mankind's future was in the stars. Before he passed away on August 16, 1999, only a few days before his 37th birthday, he chose to have his ashes flown at last to that final frontier.
In addition to his wife, parents, and children, Ben is survived by his stepsons John, Steve and Billy, stepdaughter Angie, and sisters, Anita and Rachel, all who wish him bon voyage.
