December 27, 2011

WATERTOWN, N.Y.  —  Werner J. Steinaker, 91, of Cooper Street, passed away Tuesday morning, Dec. 27, at Samaritan Medical Center where he had been a patient since Dec. 10.

Calling hours will be 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday. Dec. 29, at Cummings Funeral Service, Inc., 214 Sterling St., Watertown. The funeral Mass will be celebrated 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 30, at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church with Rev. Richard Kennedy officiating. Burial will follow in Calvary Cemetery.    

He was born Oct. 14, 1920, in Syracuse, son of prominent dentist and oral surgeon, Dr. Werner L. Steinaker and Mabel Baur Steinaker. 

As a child he was an avid horseback rider.  In 1932 he won the New York State Fair Horse Show Pony Jumper Cup. He was student class president at Theodore Roosevelt Junior High School and graduated in 1939 from Syracuse Central High School. From 1939 to 1941, he studied diesel mechanics in Los Angeles, Calif., and then moved to Watertown.    
He entered the Army Air Force in August 1942 and was discharged in November 1945. His deployments included Ladd Field Air Force Base, Fairbanks, Alaska, from March 1943 to March 1945 where he refueled aircraft loaned to the Soviet Union under the Lend Lease Program.    

He married Virginia Pepe on March 25, 1944, at St. Anthony's Church, Watertown. After his discharge from the US Army Air Force in 1945 he continuously resided in Watertown.     

His primary career was trucking transportation which included owning Sorensen Motor Express which merged with Seabury Motor Express. In 1973, he joined St. Lawrence Freightways as vice president and retired in 2000. He was a former president of the Northern New York Motor Carriers Association and was active in the Northern New York Traffic Club. He was also an active member of Toastmasters International.    

Mr. Steinaker was a communicant of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church. He had been the secretary of Navy Point Marina, Sackets Harbor, and had enjoyed sailing for over thirty years. In 2000, he sailed a 23-foot catboat manufactured by Menger Cat Boatworks in Bayshore, Long Island, up the Hudson River, through the New York state canal system, and ended his journey in Sackets Harbor. 

Besides his wife, Virginia P. "Ginger" Steinaker, he is survived by a son, Donald L. Steinaker, Poughkeepsie; a daughter, Susan Steinaker Green and her husband, Raymond G. Green, Largo, Fla.; two grandchildren, Amy Bender and husband, Jason, Largo, Fla., and Kristopher Green and wife, Jennifer, San Diego, Calif.; a great-grandson, Conner Bender; and several nieces and nephews. 

He was predeceased by his brother, Donald B. Steinaker, who was killed in action on Guadalcanal in October 1942. Donald was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross. The Navy Destroyer USS Steinaker DD863 was named in his honor. Werner Steinaker was also predeceased by a sister, Carol Steinaker Garben, Williamsville, who died in April 2011.    

The family wishes donations in his name to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church, 320 W. Lynde St., Watertown, NY 13601.

Information provided by Cummings Funeral Service and Newzjunky.com, Watertown