Hans Steilberger

Hans Steilberger, 94, died August 21, 2019, at his home. Born July 12, 1925, in Herne, Germany, the only child of Karl and Else (Mayer) Steilberger, he came to the United States in December 1937 as a 12-year-old refugee from Nazi Germany and found a home with Fay and Ruben Glick of Indianapolis. Both his parents as well as many relatives left behind fell eventual victims to Hitler’s concentration camps. Steilberger, an honor graduate of Shortridge High School and Butler University, was a veteran of World War II, where he saw action in the Rome-Arno and Northern Apennine campaigns in Italy. Honorably discharged from the U.S. Army in 1946 after three years of service, he was recalled to active duty in the Korean conflict in 1950 and served two additional years as a military intelligence service specialist. Following his collegiate matriculation, he worked for a year as sports editor and associate editor of the Hockley County Herald and Daily Sun-News in Levelland, Texas, before returning to Indianapolis to take a position as office manager for the Gene B. Glick Company. In 1954, he married his college sweetheart, Dorothy Klebes, who died in 1963. They had one daughter, Karen E. Steilberger, who survives. In 1982, two years after retiring from the Allison Gas Turbine Division of General Motors, where he had worked as senior editor of technical publications for 25 years, he married the former Janet F. Popp, who survives. They enjoyed travel and indulged in that pastime extensively during the couple's fifteen-year hiatus in New Mexico, Utah, and Arkansas. They returned to Indiana in 1998 to be closer to family and friends. Survivors, besides the daughter and the widow, include: stepsons Christopher B. King, Darrin A. King, and Jonathan N. King; four grandchildren; and countless cousins on five continents. Funeral arrangements are being made by Shirley Brothers Mortuaries & Crematory. There will be no calling; a private memorial service will be held at a later date. The family respectfully requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to People of Vision/Prevent Blindness Indiana or the donor’s favorite charity.

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Hans Steilberger

July 12, 1925 - August 21, 2019