Steve Mullane entered this world on April 8, 1966, and left our world on his birthday, Monday, April 8, 2002. Steve has touched so many lives and we will never be the same without him. Steve was a successful salesman who lived and worked in Des Moines, but who could have easily sold raincoats in the Sahara Desert. He was only 36. His wife, Brenda, was always there by his side. He wasn’t famous or rich, but everyone who knew him loved him. A few weeks ago, more than a thousand friends showed up for his benefit sponsored by St. Augustin’s Church. Why was this gentle giant so loved? Who knows the answer? There may even be many answers to that question. We do however, have clues. When you are told that you have a brain tumor, you start waiting for the other shoe to fall. You know it’s going to make an awful sound, a piercing noise that you will never hear because you will be gone. Only your family and friends will hear the other shoe fall. So you try to prepare them for this other shoe. This is what Steve Mullane has been doing very subtlety for the last 22 months. And then there is Steve’s childhood sweetheart, Brenda, the love of his life. Together they made a promise and they kept it. In this age when so few of us keep our word, they remained true to their words: “For richer or poorer, in sickness or health, till death do us part.” When you bring a child into this world, you don’t ever expect to bury that child. A good part of Steve’s parents, Gerry and Jack, will be buried with him. It’s sad that this is so, but it is unavoidable. Those who have been there, know. If anyone deserves credit for forming this fine person, it must be Gerry and Jack. No two people on earth are closer than Steve and his twin brother, Sean. The love they have for each other may be beyond words. I will only say this: You couldn’t fight one of them. You had to fight them both. He was always there for his sisters, Trich and Chrissy. Whenever they needed a shoulder to lean on, Steve was there. During his illness, Steve made time to help Chrissy open her new art gallery in Des Moines. Steve kept himself fit. He liked jogging, bicycling and being outdoors. He was a sports enthusiast. It seemed that he always managed to schedule his surgeries so that he would be coming through Chicago when the Cubs were at Wrigley Field or the Bears were at Soldier’s Field. His Chicago uncles, Bob, Phil and Jim would always meet him at the ballpark or nearby saloons. Steve would just bank and soar above the storm clouds. But more than anything, Steve liked to fly. He would fly in his truck down the Interstate. He would fly on his skis down the mountains of Colorado. He would fly in his rented plane across the whole country. Steve would just bank and soar above the storm clouds. Steve started his own business, S & S Service, a landscaping and tree company. He was it’s hardest working employee. When he sold it in 1997, he entered the executive recruiting business. Here he set rookie sales records that impressed the owner, his mother, whom he would call “Big Ger”. 22 months ago he got in the ring with cancer and he wasn’t expected to make it into the middle rounds. He was knocked to the canvas in the first round. When he awoke after that initial surgery, his Dad told him that the match was just beginning and that his opponent had an undefeated record. “Okay”, said Steve, “So what’s our fight plan?” Brenda, his twin brother, Sean and his Dad were in his corner, and together they drew up the plan. The fight plan was the John Stoddard Cancer Center, The Mayo Clinic, The Duke Brain Tumor Center, and John Hopkins Medical Center, the best brain tumor centers in the world. There were countless surgeries, chemotherapies, radiation treatments, and advanced genetic therapies. For nearly 12 months he seemed cancer-free. In the middle rounds he was scoring lots of points. The judges had him winning on all the cards. Then he got walloped hard, and he was so badly hurt, that the experts advised that he should throw in the towel. Instead, Steve came out swinging fiercely the next round and the round after that. It looked like a big upset was in the making, and then suddenly the fight was over, and Steve was gone. Steve would just bank and soar above the storm clouds. Courage is not the absence of fear, but a judgment that there is something more important than one’s fear. Everyday for 22 months Steve awoke beside Brenda and made that judgment. What was more important than his fear of death? It was Brenda and his family. For them, he had to be strong and optimistic. He realized from the beginning of this fight, that they would need his courage to deal with this tragedy. He wasn’t one to complain or moan about his fate. Instead, he would crack jokes about his situation. He would make fun of the indentation in his head that the surgeons had given him after surgery. He would have you touch the cavity in his head and then pretend like you had taken control of his arm or leg. He would offer to share with you any of the 30 pills that he was forced to swallow each day. Some things Steve could not do on his own, due to the numbness in his arm, he would turn it into a big joke so that there would still be laughter in the hearts of his family and friends. Steve would just bank and soar above the storm clouds. We may not have answered our question, but I think all of the above offers useful clues to why Steve was so loved by so many different people. He has touched all of our lives in various ways and he will be missed dearly. He has left us many great memories. The other shoe has fallen. It was an awful sound. But Steve has prepared us well. He has taught us all about love and courage. We will always miss him. We will always love him. He will never be forgotten, and we will remember that. Steve would just bank and soar above the storm clouds. Steve has left all of us behind today, but we all will meet him again: Brenda Mullane – wife; Jack and Gerry Mullane – parents; Sean and Kelly Mullane – twin brother and sister-in-law; Joseph and Colson Mullane – nephews; Trich and Bill Brenton – sister and brother-in-law; Evan and Nealy – nephew and niece; Chrissy Mullane – sister; Jim and Mary Mullane – uncle and aunt; Phil and Sue Mullane – uncle and aunt; Bob Mullane – uncle; Rolando and Linda Justiniano – father and mother-in-law; Natali and Craig Pahl – sister and brother-in-law; Cade Pahl – nephew; Rolando Justiniano – brother-in-law; and countless other faithful friends who thought of Steve as family. Visitation will be held at Hamilton’s Funeral Home in Des Moines, Iowa, from 5 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 11, 2002, where a Vigil service will be held at 7 p.m. Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m., Friday, at St. Augustin’s Catholic Church in Des Moines, with Burial to follow at Glendale Cemetery. Hamilton’s Funeral Home in Des Moines, is handling the arrangements. 515-243-5221.
