Obituary of Connie Steger

Connie Steger was born Constance Ellen Bell on September 8, 1925 in the small green house near the Tioughnioga River on Albany Street in Homer to her father and mother, Vern R. Bell and Gladys Lewis Bell. She considered Homer her home for her full 100 years. As a child she “knew who lived in every house on South Main Street,” skated on the Green in winter, and roller skated on the then-slate sidewalks in summer. After graduating from Homer High in 1943, she spent 4 years at what was then called Buffalo Stae Teachers College. Her degree was in Art Education, and directly after graduation she was hired by Louis Wolner to teach art in the elementary school, which in 1947 was distributed among Homer’s shops and municipal buildings because the school had been partially destroyed by fire the year before.

In high school she met Don Steger and they began a romance that lasted 80 years until Don’s death in 2020. Together they bought and worked a collection of rundown farms into first a hunting preserve and dog kennel, later a productive hardwood forest. They raised two daughters, Ellen Steger Ketcham and Heidi Steger, who gave them 7 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren. They also hosted 4 different foreign exchange students over the years, from Germany, Switzerland, and Iceland, who all became part of the family.

Connie taught at Homer Elementary School, then moved to the Intermediate School when it opened. Each year her lesson plans changed as she would try new materials and techniques to push children’s creativity. Her classroom was full of different media, from paints, chalk, and clay to yarn, cloth, wire, and paper maché. She also led a Girl Scout troop, sang in her church choir, and relished her Sennightly Club meetings. Summers she would take her two daughters on road trips all over the Northeast.

After her retirement in 1980 she turned her talents to working with the Cortland County Historical Society, teaching Sunday School and writing the newsletter for the Homer First UMC, dabbling in quilting, cross-country skiing, swimming for miles in the YWCA pool, and traveling to Europe with Don.

Connie was always looking for beauty in the world and tried to create beauty with everything she did in her long life.

Memorial services will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, August 28, 2026 at the Homer First United Methodist Church, 16 Cayuga Street, Homer.

Memorial gifts can be made in her name to the Homer First UMC or the YWCA in Cortland.