A photograph of Lynn Steinle, who died from cancer on New Year’s Day in 2011, is displayed in her family’s remodeled kitchen in Elm Grove on Thursday, Sept. 20. In spite of the cancer diagnosis, Steinle went ahead with a kitchen remodeling project, hoping that it would be featured in the Kitchens for a Cause Walk. (Catholic Herald photo by Ricardo Torres).
When doctors told Lynn Steinle that she had stage four lung
cancer, she decided to spend the time remaining doing stuff she wanted to do.
Unlike many people, she did not quit her job, travel to
Europe, or take a cruise to Alaska. Rather, she did what she always did; she
worked long hours as founder and co-owner of Strategic Employee Benefits Services, which is associated with Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, took
care of her family, volunteered at her parish, St. Mary Visitation in Elm
Grove, and crafted handmade soap to give to friends and family.
If that were not enough, despite surgery to remove one of
her lungs, she embarked on a massive project to remodel her kitchen; and she
did it with such gusto, that in it seemed to be woven a personal legacy, left
behind for her husband Tim, and children Jacob, 26, Daniel, 25, and Abigail, 22
to enjoy.
The kitchen remodeling was one of the final touches on the
renovation project of their 1930s Tudor style home; the couple had already
renovated the upstairs, including bathrooms. After five years of discussing
what they wanted in a kitchen, Lynn and Tim were to sign papers on December 1,
2008 with Design Group Three as the architectural design firm, but instead of
celebrating the beginning of the project, both felt a slug to the gut with the
cancer diagnosis.
“I hated to tell her, but we just had to put the project on
hold and she agreed,” explained Tim. “She was just 53 years of age and it was
such a shitty diagnosis.”
Not long after the grim news, Lynn had surgery to remove one
of her lungs and by summer of 2009, she rekindled the desire to revisit the
remodeling project.
“She came up to me one day that summer and told me, ‘I don’t
know what the Lord has in store for me, but I want my kitchen done,’” recalled
Tim, a Milwaukee attorney. “I told
her, ‘Sweetie, I think this is a big problem, you had your lung removed and
with the dust and everything associated with this project, I just don’t think
it is a good idea.’”
Despite his objections, Lynn’s fervent desire to complete
the project won out. And for months, the couple lived behind plastic curtains,
and cooked out of the toaster oven and microwave.
“It was important to her to have a kitchen that she could
entertain in,” said Tim. “We both love to cook. Lynn was a career woman and was
very successful in her own business. We were both involved in raising our three
kids, who are all adults now and we shared in the family cooking. Lynn really
enjoyed the holidays and having people over for Thanksgiving and Christmas. In
all those years, our house was filled with family, and every time we had a
party, everyone naturally gathered in the kitchen. With a tiny galley kitchen,
it wasn’t conducive for entertaining, and Lynn wanted a kitchen where everyone
could gather together.”
While it was difficult living among dust, plastic and
construction noise for the 9-month project, Tim admitted that he would do it
again to make her happy. To her, the project seemed cathartic, a glimpse of the
lives that would continue, no matter her personal outcome.
The project was completed by spring of 2010 and included
removing walls, adding a large island equipped with electrical outlets to
accommodate Tim’s computer and a 42-inch wall mounted TV.
“The kitchen is bright and beautiful, it has her all over it,
and we had fun picking out a lot of it together,” said Tim. “She got to enjoy
the kitchen through the summer and fall and then died on New Year’s Day, 2011,
just two days before our 30th wedding anniversary.”
For 26 years, Lynn was involved with philanthropic efforts
in Milwaukee, and the Elm Grove community, including the Christian Women’s
Society of St. Mary Visitation Parish. It was her desire to feature the newly
remodeled kitchen on the first annual Kitchens for a Cause Kitchen Walk in May
2011.
According to Lynne Miller, member of the Kitchens for a
Cause Committee, Lynn Steinle wanted her kitchen included on the last kitchen
walk, but it was completed too late to include it in the spring tour.
“This year we are honored to showcase our home on our tour,”
she said. “Not only was Lynn an avid member of the Christian Women’s Society,
she volunteered at all of our parish functions, and shared her time and talents
with Marquette University High School and Pius XI High School. She taught us
all many lessons on living life to the fullest and she is greatly missed.”
The Steinle home will be one of nine homes with newly
remodeled kitchens, included on the walking tour, which will raise funds for
new refrigeration equipment at Jesuit Nativity Middle School’s Camp
Thunderhead.
It was Tim’s desire that this year’s efforts will benefit
Nativity, as the school is the male counter part to the all girls Notre Dame
Middle School. The school system is one that he and his wife have supported
over the years.
Nativity is an independent Catholic middle school founded in
1993 to serve low-income Hispanic boys in grades six through eight. The school
is run under the auspices of the Society of Jesus. Since the school’s
inception, Nativity has graduated 256 boys, most of whom have gone on to attend
private college preparatory high schools, and 75 percent of graduates continue
on to post secondary education.
Each summer, Nativity students spend five weeks at Camp
Thunderhead, a residential summer camp in northern Wisconsin. While there, the
boys build on their academic skills while enjoying outdoor sports and
camaraderie. The camp’s kitchen is in need of modern commercial refrigeration
equipment and proceeds from the walk will help the school purchase these much-needed
items.
“When Jean Kelly, (Co-President of Milwaukee Archdiocesan
Council of Christian Women) came to me and told me about the kitchen walk and
how all the proceeds goes to some form of education and asked if I would open
my kitchen to the tour, and that they wanted to honor her, it was easy to say
yes,” he said. “These beautiful ladies do all the work of the open house, and
my daughter Abby will be coming home and Lynne’s sister Sherry will be involved
as well.”
Last year 150 guests raised $15,000 in the Kitchens for a
Cause tour to update the kitchen of Notre Dame Middle School and this year, the
Christian Women’s Society hopes to double the number of visitors on the tour.
“This year we have a very unique group of nine homes,” said
Miller. “In addition to our host home, we have a 1920s Tudor designed by Eschweiler
featured across the street from a very ultra modern design nestled between two
wooded glacial kettles, a 1937 Cape Cod home that was originally a goat farm, a
fairy tale ‘Hansel and Gretel’ cottage style home build in the 1930s designed
by architect R. Harold Zook, and a one story ranch that was completely
overhauled to produce a spectacular two-story masterpiece. There are large kitchens
that spill into beautiful family rooms, as well as smaller kitchens that
maximize the space with their unique designs and appliance placement.”
Door prizes will add to the excitement of the tour. Each
guest will receive a raffle ticket to apply towards a door prize, but
additional raffle tickets will be available for purchase.
“We are hoping to continue this Kitchen Walk in Elm Grove
for many years to come,” said Miller. “There are lots of neighborhoods with
unique homes and beautiful kitchens in Elm Grove. The possibilities are
endless.”
Although she cannot be physically part of the tour, Miller
knows that Lynn would have been the first in line to purchase a ticket, and
talked a dozen friends into attending as well.
“She was so generous with her time and talent, supporting
charitable causes with beautiful raffle baskets, working the events and
promoting the cause,” said Miller. “Her strong Catholic Faith led her to
volunteer for many groups at St. Mary Visitation. She lived her faith in both
her words and her actions, always helping others in our local community and the
surrounding areas.”
Excited to share her sister’s legacy and vision, Sherry
Dieringer-Wahlberg and the couple’s daughter Abby will be welcoming visitors to
the Steinle kitchen.
“Abby will continue with one of Lynn’s traditions of soap
making,” said Wahlberg. “Lynn used to make soap and gave it to everyone. Abby
has continued this tradition and made a dozen batches, which amounts to a
couple of hundred bars of soap, packaged and labeled it. She is going to ask
for any donation in any amount and all the money will go to the cause. This
would be typical Lynn. She would never sell it—but would ask for donations for
causes, so this way we honor Lynn’s desire not to sell the soap, but to ask for
donations to help others.”
The Steinle family’s kitchen in Elm Grove will be one of nine featured in the Kitchens for the Cause Kitchen Walk on Saturday, Sept. 29. Lynn Steinle died New Year’s Day in 2011, before it could be featured in the inaugural Kitchen Walk in spring. (Catholic Herald photo by Ricardo Torres)
Wahlberg is eager to share stories of her sister to
inquiring visitors, giving them a rare glimpse into Lynn’s life, her home, her
selfless actions, strong faith, and desire to leave the world a better place.
“She worked very hard, made a lot of money and gave a lot of
money away,” said Wahlberg. “She was very dedicated to underprivileged kids and
wanting those kids to get a religious connection.”
Despite her cancer diagnosis, Lynn never wavered from her
faith, nor complained to others about her pain.
“She was incredible and always downplayed the pain she was
in,” said Wahlberg. “You could see it in her face and in her movements, yet she
always said she was fine. She was an example for anyone on how to handle a disease—she
was just incredible all the way to the end. She loved her job so much, and Tim
would have loved for her to stop working, go to Ireland and travel, but her
passion was her job. She worked up to three weeks before she died. It was
important for her to get dressed and go into the office so people cold see she
was still functional.”
Tim agreed, and added that the suffering seemed to make his
wife stronger, and remembers her telling him that it was better she died than
someone else. For him, while he admits his faith isn’t shaken, he does have
questions.
“I do have questions about why things happen, and
philosophically, some questions,” he disclosed.
In the days and weeks after Lynn died, Tim remembers wanting
to close his doors and stay in bed; but because of his three children, who were
also grieving the loss of their mother, he knew that he had to continue as an
example to them.
“I stay active, continue living and working and doing what I
did before,” he said. “I am an outdoorsman and enjoying hunting, fishing and
going to my summer home with my kids. I try to stay busy, but I tell you, I
live alone now, and evenings are a very lonely time for me. I am happy to be
part of this cause and think what they are doing is magnificent. I am honored
by whatever they do and while I don’t understand things in this life—I do know
that I will see her someday.”
Those interested in attending the Kitchen Walk should park
at the Elm Grove Women’s Club on Watertown Plank Road. A shuttle bus provided
by Pius XI High School will be running the route all day. The homes are all
located off Circle Drive and the tour can be easily walked.
Tickets are $25 before the date and $30 on the day of the
event. They can be purchased at Grasch Foods on North Avenue in Brookfield and
the Parish Office of St. Mary Visitation in Elm Grove. Orders will also be
taken by emailing
kitchensforacause@gmail.com
If you want to go
Kitchens for a Cause
Kitchen Walk
Saturday, Sept. 29,
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Park at Elm Grove
Women’s Club
13885 Watertown Plank Road
A shuttle bus, provided by Pius XI High School, will run the route all day. The homes are all located off Circle Drive and the tour can easily be walked.
Tickets $25 in advance,
$30 day of event
Tickets available at
Grasch Foods
13950 North Ave.,
Brookfield
St. Mary Visitation
Parish Office
1260 Church St.,
Elm Grove
orkitchensforacause@gmail.com
