Stephen Neil Kauffman
March 29, 1945 — June 24, 2019
Past Services
Interment with Military Honors
Stephen Neil Kauffman
Stephen Neil Kauffman, 74, passed away on June 24, 2019 doing what he loved to do most in his retirement years – playing slot machines at Mohegan Sun Casino with his beautiful wife Jocelyne of 46 years and 1 day by his side.
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Dear All,
I believe the above sentence is the format in which you are supposed to write an obituary, but I just can't do it. It seems so impersonal to me. Talking so formally about the person you just lost and summarizing their life in a few short paragraphs just isn't enough. Stephen "Steve" Kauffman was my dad and I want everyone to know just how important he was to me, my mom, sister, sons, nieces, brother-in-law, husband and everyone else who knew and loved him.
From the stories I've heard about his childhood, he put his parents, Robert and Mary Kauffman, through quite a bit. He somehow managed to get himself runover by a tractor and then stabbed by a neighborhood kid before he was even 16. He also loved to his give his brother, Doug Kauffman, and his sister, Diane Curran, a hard time. Every story I've ever heard from my aunt and uncle about my dad involves some sort of prank.
My dad joined the Navy in the early 1960's and ended up stationed with the Marines as a Hospital Corpsman and found himself on the front lines in Vietnam as part of Operation Starlight – the first major US offensive of the Vietnam War. He never wanted to be a Corpsman. He wanted a gun and he wanted to shoot the "bad guys", but because of his "experience" working at a small pharmacy in Chelmsford, MA as a teenager, the Navy decided he was qualified to help wounded soldiers in the bush and comfort many of them in their last moments of life, so that is what my dad did and he did it damn well. My dad was so proud of being a veteran. He was proud that he was shot in Vietnam and lived to tell the story and come home in one piece. He always wore his purple heart veteran's hat and drove his car with the purple heart license plate proudly.
After Vietnam, my dad married Jocelyne Marie Marchessault, on June 23, 1973. They had two kids – me and my sister, Heather Ring.
My dad never went to college. This was also something he was very proud of – the success he had in his career as a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Designer without a formal education. He was a workaholic (in a good way if there is such a thing) – he loved what he did. He was hot headed at times and may have spoken up at work when he shouldn't have and got himself fired once or twice – but he always provided for me and my mom and sister.
Towards the end of his career, he took a job at a company in Salt Lake City, Utah (where I happened to be living) and lived at the Residence Inn Cottonwood for many years. In fact, the Residence Inn actually threw him a party in October 2010 for being the "Longest Consecutive Guest" in history of the hotel. I know this sounds silly, but if you knew my dad, he loved to talk about this.
A few other things about my dad – when I was young, he was an avid candlepin bowler and ended up on one of those Saturday morning candlepin bowling contests on the local TV channel where the men/women look all serious and stare down the lane before they throw that little bowling ball that only a New Englander would know what I'm talking about. He also loved lottery tickets. This was part of his daily routine. He was convinced that one day he would make his millions off a scratch ticket. Actually, he had a surprising amount of luck with these scratch tickets over the years. In fact, just last Thanksgiving, he proudly showed me the lottery ticket he had scratched off that morning and won a $5,000 cash prize! He also really loved cheese. I laugh when I write that. I never knew anyone who loved cheese as much as he did. I feel like my dad wouldn't be properly described if I didn't mention his love for cheese.
My dad was so kind. He was so generous and so loving. He was a great dad. He was always there for me and he was always so proud of me – no matter how much I screwed up. My dad will be dearly missed by my mom, my sister, my brother-in-law, Eric Ring, their daughters Chloe and Siena, my husband, Eddie Grogan and our children Kale, Kelly and Kosten. You will forever be in our heart, dad. We love you so much.
My dad will be laid to rest at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, June 28, 2019 at the New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery, 110 Daniel Webster Highway, Boscawen, NH. We will be meeting at the cemetery between 10:00 – 10:15 a.m. to line up. We will be hosting a luncheon to celebrate my dad's life following the burial. All who knew him, and his family, are invited to share their love and support and toast my father.
My family asks in lieu of flowers to make a donation to the Wounded Warrior Project in my father's name. That would make him so happy. He'd be so honored.
Donations can be made online at https://support.woundedwarriorproject.org or by telephone at 855.448.3997 or by regular mail at Wounded Warrior Project, PO Box 758517, Topeka, Kansas 66675-8517.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and to honor my dad.
On behalf of my entire family, with love, sadness and pride,
Kristen (Kauffman) Grogan
--
Dear All,
I believe the above sentence is the format in which you are supposed to write an obituary, but I just can't do it. It seems so impersonal to me. Talking so formally about the person you just lost and summarizing their life in a few short paragraphs just isn't enough. Stephen "Steve" Kauffman was my dad and I want everyone to know just how important he was to me, my mom, sister, sons, nieces, brother-in-law, husband and everyone else who knew and loved him.
From the stories I've heard about his childhood, he put his parents, Robert and Mary Kauffman, through quite a bit. He somehow managed to get himself runover by a tractor and then stabbed by a neighborhood kid before he was even 16. He also loved to his give his brother, Doug Kauffman, and his sister, Diane Curran, a hard time. Every story I've ever heard from my aunt and uncle about my dad involves some sort of prank.
My dad joined the Navy in the early 1960's and ended up stationed with the Marines as a Hospital Corpsman and found himself on the front lines in Vietnam as part of Operation Starlight – the first major US offensive of the Vietnam War. He never wanted to be a Corpsman. He wanted a gun and he wanted to shoot the "bad guys", but because of his "experience" working at a small pharmacy in Chelmsford, MA as a teenager, the Navy decided he was qualified to help wounded soldiers in the bush and comfort many of them in their last moments of life, so that is what my dad did and he did it damn well. My dad was so proud of being a veteran. He was proud that he was shot in Vietnam and lived to tell the story and come home in one piece. He always wore his purple heart veteran's hat and drove his car with the purple heart license plate proudly.
After Vietnam, my dad married Jocelyne Marie Marchessault, on June 23, 1973. They had two kids – me and my sister, Heather Ring.
My dad never went to college. This was also something he was very proud of – the success he had in his career as a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Designer without a formal education. He was a workaholic (in a good way if there is such a thing) – he loved what he did. He was hot headed at times and may have spoken up at work when he shouldn't have and got himself fired once or twice – but he always provided for me and my mom and sister.
Towards the end of his career, he took a job at a company in Salt Lake City, Utah (where I happened to be living) and lived at the Residence Inn Cottonwood for many years. In fact, the Residence Inn actually threw him a party in October 2010 for being the "Longest Consecutive Guest" in history of the hotel. I know this sounds silly, but if you knew my dad, he loved to talk about this.
A few other things about my dad – when I was young, he was an avid candlepin bowler and ended up on one of those Saturday morning candlepin bowling contests on the local TV channel where the men/women look all serious and stare down the lane before they throw that little bowling ball that only a New Englander would know what I'm talking about. He also loved lottery tickets. This was part of his daily routine. He was convinced that one day he would make his millions off a scratch ticket. Actually, he had a surprising amount of luck with these scratch tickets over the years. In fact, just last Thanksgiving, he proudly showed me the lottery ticket he had scratched off that morning and won a $5,000 cash prize! He also really loved cheese. I laugh when I write that. I never knew anyone who loved cheese as much as he did. I feel like my dad wouldn't be properly described if I didn't mention his love for cheese.
My dad was so kind. He was so generous and so loving. He was a great dad. He was always there for me and he was always so proud of me – no matter how much I screwed up. My dad will be dearly missed by my mom, my sister, my brother-in-law, Eric Ring, their daughters Chloe and Siena, my husband, Eddie Grogan and our children Kale, Kelly and Kosten. You will forever be in our heart, dad. We love you so much.
My dad will be laid to rest at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, June 28, 2019 at the New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery, 110 Daniel Webster Highway, Boscawen, NH. We will be meeting at the cemetery between 10:00 – 10:15 a.m. to line up. We will be hosting a luncheon to celebrate my dad's life following the burial. All who knew him, and his family, are invited to share their love and support and toast my father.
My family asks in lieu of flowers to make a donation to the Wounded Warrior Project in my father's name. That would make him so happy. He'd be so honored.
Donations can be made online at https://support.woundedwarriorproject.org or by telephone at 855.448.3997 or by regular mail at Wounded Warrior Project, PO Box 758517, Topeka, Kansas 66675-8517.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and to honor my dad.
On behalf of my entire family, with love, sadness and pride,
Kristen (Kauffman) Grogan
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