The memorial service for Stephen Conley, 51, Valley City, ND will be held at 2:00 PM, Saturday, December 29 at the Lerud Mathias Funeral Home. He died at Essentia Health in Fargo, ND on December 21, 2018.
Stephen Douglas Conley (51) was born in Southern Ohio, where Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia meet, on August 4, 1967. He was raised in a hollow in the middle of a national forest. He loved the “holler” he grew up in, football, his family, his country and country music (Not necessarily in that order). Mostly, he loved Tara Anderson and her daughter Reese.
Stephen discovered football early and was somewhat of a local hero in an area where football was king. By the end of high school, where he played for the Rock Hill Redmen, he earned honors that included All-District linebacker and was part of the Class AA All Ohio Team in 1984.
Stephen was also brilliant (at least his family thought so). Surprisingly, he did not play college ball, but followed his sister into the US Navy where he became a Machinist Mate. He was trained as a nuclear propulsion technician and worked on nuclear submarines in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where he lived with his wife Laura and their son Chase whom was born in 1987.
Eventually, after leaving the military, Stephen settled in Cincinnati where he worked as a quality control inspector for a few companies that did machining. By then he and Laura had gone their separate ways. He remarried and had a beautiful daughter, Alyssa in 1999.
Stephen had made Cincinnati home for over 20 years when his sister and his mother moved to North Dakota. By then, he was no longer with Alyssa’s mother, so he made the move to North Dakota to be near his family (mostly his mama!). He found work at the Bobcat plant where he worked as a CNC machinist.
He loved his work, but when he tore his bicep at work, the company offered to send him to college to retrain. He struggled with starting over at 50, but his family and friends convinced him he could do it, so he enrolled in college and was a full-time student studying Business Management at MSUM. Even at his advanced age (insert humor), he shone as a student and worked hard to maintain his 4.0 average.
Stephen met Tara Anderson about five years ago. She had a little girl, Reese, that soon became his sunshine. He loved telling Reese stories about growing up in the ‘Hobbie” (her word for holler). He loved family outings with Tara and Reese and was packing for Christmas with Tara’s family when he fell ill. His family was happy that he had found joy.
In the past year, Stephen became involved with the Valley City AMVETS Chapter and joined the Honor Guard. One of his proudest moments was when he got to perform honor guard duties for one of Reese’s programs.
Stephen died in the early hours of Friday, December 21 while Tara, his mother and sister held his hands.
Stephen will be deeply missed by Tara and Reese Anderson; his mother Pat and step-father Gerald Hall; his children Charles Grazian and Alyssa Conley, his sister Bonnie Jo Conley, his step-brother, Randy Hall (Sheila), his nieces and nephews and his friends. He was preceded in death by his father, Charles Albert Conley, an infant child, all of his grandparents and several aunts, uncles and cousins.
Lerud Mathias Funeral Home of Valley City is assisting Stephen’s family with arrangements. An online guestbook is available at www.lerudschuldt.com