Steven J. Baird

April 24, 2022

It is with great sadness that we share the passing of Steven Jay Baird on April 24, 2022, at age 69. Steve was the son of Betty Baird (Slechta) and John (Jack) K. Baird. He spent his childhood relocating across the country, to places including Japan and Taiwan, in a military family lifestyle. Upon graduating from high school, he joined the Marines in 1970, following closely in his father’s footsteps. When he completed bootcamp, he was sent directly to fight in Vietnam, where he unbelievably ran into his dad in Saigon where they saw Vietnam duty as father and son at the same time. After his stint with the Marine Corps, Steve did odd jobs around the country until settling down in Wheeling, IL and securing a job with the US Postal service. After retirement from the postal service, he then went to live with his sister Lindy and niece Rachel in Colorado, but always retained his Cubs devotion. Steve loved and enjoyed watching all sports. He was a quiet man with a big heart and loved kids, so he easily fell into the role of beloved surrogate father to his niece, Rachel, while living with his sister in Ft. Collins. Steve was a central figure in most of her life, and later, he was blessed to also become “Grandpa” to Rachel’s daughter, Jersey. He brought his easygoing mindset and playful antics to the delight of baby Jersey and loved teaching her all about his favorite sports. He was preceded in death by his parents and will be so deeply missed by his four siblings, nieces and nephew—Brenda Baird; Teresa (Mike) Milewski and their children Karie (Eric) and Doug; Lindy Westcott and daughter Rachel and grandniece Jersey; Doug (Kim) Baird and daughter Helena, and their recently connected half-sister Marjan, and family.