Community remembers Jack Steed

Ret. CMSgt. Jack Henry Steed of Warner Robins passed away last Wednesday. From achieving the rank of Eagle Scout to his over three decades of service in the Air Force to having a local park named in his honor, Steed was known for many things.

In light of his role as a civic figure in the area, The Journal reached out to some notable people with roles in Steed’s life to gain some perspective on his personality and accomplishments.

George Slappey and Steed worked together in the banking industry.

“Jack was so involved in the community through various organizations — Optimists Club; Rotary Club; a lot of the civic things; Chamber work, both Perry and Warner Robins; and just as immersed in the community as he could be,” Slappey said. “A few things that really stick about him are he was extremely involved in the first organization of the 21st Century Partnership, having been an Air Force veteran and so much [like] the Air Force and the Air Force Association and the Middle Georgia community.”

Slappey said Steed was involved in some of the early years of the Museum of Aviation and its development. Defending and promoting Robins Air Force Base to assist the community was a goal of Steed, Slappey said.

He said the 19th Air Refueling Group was stationed at Robins during Desert Storm, and the refueling tankers were rotated back and forth between the base and the Middle East.

“One of the things that he [Steed] had found out through his involvement with the base, the Air Force Association — those folks stationed over there, some of the things they were missing were snack foods,” Slappey said. “He kind of worked with Frito-Lay or whatever contacts he had at Frito-Lay, but anyway, whenever they would rotate a plane over there, he would make sure those salty snacks got on there to go to those guys.”

Slappey made some closing comments.

“Jack went to work and actually worked for me for quite some time, but I think I learned a lot more from Jack than he ever learned from me,” he said. “He just came to work everyday with an attitude of ‘this can be done, and I can be the best at it.’ That’s one of the things that I’ll always remember about him.”

Commissioner Chairman Tommy Stalnaker knew Steed because of their mutual association with the county.

“When I really got to know him was when he had a little park there at Carl Vinson [Parkway] and Leverette Road, and we widened Carl Vinson Parkway and we had to destroy that little park,” Stalnaker said. “And he was not happy about that, and we assured him that we were going to build another park.”

The City of Warner Robins and county officials approved the construction of another park at the corner of Corder and Leverette roads. This one was named in honor of Steed.

Another personal anecdote from Stalnaker hightlighted some aspects of Steed’s personality.

“After I got to be the chairman, he’d come by there to see me and talk to me some,” he said. “He had come in there one day, and it was around Christmas time, Christmas season, and it was early when I got elected, first year or two after I got elected.

“He had come in with the prettiest Christmas tie on, and I’m being serious when I say one of the prettiest Christmas ties I had ever seen. I told him I said, ‘Jack, I like your tie. Where’d you get your tie? I wanted to get me one like that.’ He said, ”Well I need to find out where I got it,” because I think his wife had got it [for him] or whatever. And lo and behold, I come back in the next day, and there’s another box there for me from Jack Steed — and he had given me his tie. He had taken his tie off of his neck, and he gave me his tie that I liked so much. I’ve still got this tie, and I’ll always cherish that tie because a man that’ll give you one of his favorite ties because you were complementary to him tells you to me what kind of man Jack Steed was.”

Steed and the father of Chuck Shaheen were best friends through their time in the military and more.

Shaheen said at the time it was built, the spot where the Jack Steed Unity Park lies started out as a less than ideal intersection. He added the park was “well named and well deserved.”

“To have a park named after you just continues his great name and his legacy forever — not for many years but forever,” Shaheen said.

He continued with his thoughts on Steed.

“He continued to be a pillar in our community, and I always measure people by not what they do for a city that they get paid for but what they do for a city that they volunteer for,” he continued. “He was the consummate volunteer, consummate public servant to our community. And we just hope we can have more Jack Steeds coming up in the future. I just could not think enough of him.”

June Lowe’s husband and Jack Steed served at Robins Air Force Base.

“Jack was always very community oriented and also very interested in the people of Robins Air Force Base,” Lowe said. “After that, my husband was in the AFA with him, they were in Rotary, they were in lots of other organizations in town, so they were both very involved in different organizations and so was I.”

Lowe said she served as the vice president of the Museum of Aviation for 19 years, and Steed worked on many of the museum committees. She said Steed and some other local leaders were instrumental in starting the annual auction fundraiser event.

The Centerville Rotary Club Facebook page featured the following post late last week: “It’s with a sad heart that I pass along that our dear friend and fellow club member Jack Steed passed away last night. Our club, city, county, state and nation have lost a very tremendous member, patriot and statesman; as well as a great friend for those of us who knew and served with Jack on a personal and community basis!”

The visitation for Jack Steed will be held on Thursday, August 4, from 6-8 p.m. at McCullough Funeral Home at 417 South Houston Lake Road in Warner Robins. A funeral service will be held the following day at 9 a.m. at Houston Lake Presbyterian Church at 101 O’Brien Drive in Kathleen. His burial will be held on August 5 at noon at Andersonville National Cemetery, 760 POW Road in Andersonville.

View his obituary, leave a note on his tribute wall, send flowers or make a donation in his honor by visiting https://www.mcculloughfh.com.

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