Ben "Steve" Steven Findley

Ben "Steve" Steven Findley was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on February 17, 1943 to Ben Maurice Findley, father, and Kathleen Stevens Findley, mother. Steve has two sisters, Marcia Jan Findley (older) and Michelle Findley Butterworth (younger). His family lived in different towns in Oklahoma and Texas during his young years. He highly respected and loved both Findley and Stevens Grandparents. Many summers were spent on the Stevens farm in Talala, Oklahoma. In Steve's formative years, he was a vagabond in search of new adventures, places and people to experience. He traveled, made friends and found work easily with his unusual, and rare mechanical skills. During the early sixties, he became a staunch advocate for the Civil Rights Movement and participated in organizations in Mississippi, and Deep South. He often put himself in harms way to support the Civil Rights Movement activities and spoke in Washington D.C. at the Civil Rights March. He was always a fierce fighter for the underdog and anywhere where injustice prevailed. In the mid-sixties to he traveled to Southern California then Northern California in the 70's where he opened his own garages in Berkeley, San Rafael and then Novato in the 80's. During this time he created a stair-climbing wheel chair, tire-cutting machine, and completed a custom award winning car called the "John Bloch Special." This car won Best Engineered car and 1st in class from ISCA in 1983 & 1984 and WSMA Outstanding Engineering awards in 1985 through 1986. All of his engineering and mechanical skills were self-taught and learned through reading. In his later years, he spent his time between Sunnyvale and Fort Jones. Scott Valley provided a beautiful natural backdrop where he worked on his expandable mobile building project among gorgeous forests, wildlife, and rivers. He loved nature and all animals. He finalized his patent on his expandable bldg project during the 2000's and began building out the unit as a sample for marketing. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FLOXLFswRI Steve died on August 27, 2019 near Fort Jones having just left the land he loved, working on the project that represented his forward thinking ideas, driven enthusiasm, and absolute obsession for quality workmanship. Steve had a compassionate heart and often took-in people who had nowhere to live, no work, etc. and help them to their next destination, never expecting anything in return. He will be remembered for his humanity, extraordinary intellect, incredible mechanical abilities, and out-of-the box forward thinking. He was a teacher, mentor, and sage. He will be so missed. A celebration of life for Steve's family and friends will be held at Five Marys Restaurant on Saturday, October 19 from 12 noon to 4 p.m. in the patio area.

Ben "Steve" Steven Findley

February 17, 1943 - August 27, 2019