Saturday, April 16, 2011
Ed Steel was a special person, both to the community and to the university. He was one of the first people I met when I interviewed for a position at WVU in 1968, and he remained an inspiring figure throughout his life. We used to say that Ed was the person in the department who knew everything, the real renaissance individual. He not only read historical journals but scientific ones. A cheerful individual with an every-ready chuckle, he was a most pleasant and co-operative colleague. He came to WVU as a student of Fletcher Green's at UNC, Green being one of the leading Southern historians in the profession, and he became a bulwark to our department. His dedication to his everyday teaching and service responsibilities consumed so much time that Ed actually published more in his retirement than he did during his active tenure on the faculty, and his contributions to our knowledge of Mother Jones are particularly notable and valuable. One aspect of Ed's thoughtfulness and practicality that I never forgot was the beautiful calligraphy he used when he wrote comments on students' papers and exams. When asked about it, he admitted that his handwriting had gotten so bad that he decided to learn calligraphy so that his assessments would be easily read by his students. It was typical of his gentle and giving nature that he spent time with our daughter, Kelly, when she was preparing--with friends--a History Day presentation that involved Jones. Ed's generosity, too, was expressed in other ways, one of which was working for years as a volunteer at Christian Help. He will be greatly missed. To Barbara, Phil, and Martha, sincere sympathy.Jack and Jean Hammersmith
