Stephen John Dauw

Stephen John Dauw, age 70, of Ozark, passed away Wednesday November 28, 2018. He was born February 03, 1948 in Moline IL the son of Frank and Dorothy (Stromberg) Dauw. Steve was a graduate of Alleman High School in Rock Island. He received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History from Marquette University in 1970 and a Master of Arts Degree in Federal Health Administration from the University of Iowa in 1973. Steve was certified Professional in Human Resources from the Society for Human Resource Management (PHR) and had a twenty year career spanning various leadership roles in Human Resource Management and General Management at Autozone. Prior to that he was the owner / operator of Family Drug Pharmacy in Rockford, IL. On December 3rd 1988 Steve married the love of his life and wife of 30 years Marilyn Short in a small private ceremony in Rockford, where they lived for a number of years. Steve's career took him to many new places and the two traveled together all over the country including Elyria Ohio, Glendale Arizona, Pryor Lake Minnesota, and Westland Michigan. Marilyn came from a military family and was therefore very experienced with establishing roots in new communities. She was a wonderful partner, cook, and homemaker through their journeys together. In his youth Steve was a Boy Scout and very active in the Civil Air Patrol and loved both of those organizations. That passion drove him to answer the call to help his community with many hours of adult service to emergency search and rescue and disaster preparedness organizations including FEMA, The Department of Homeland Security, the Community Emergency Response Team, and the American Red Cross. Steve was a certified National Incident Management System (NIMS) instructor and delivered personal training in all functions of Emergency Management. Steve was proud to be a three-time recipient of the President's Volunteer Service Award first from Barack Obama in 2014 and then by Donald Trump in 2017 and again in 2018 for his work in Disaster Services. Steve was a devoted Catholic and spent much of his time in service to his Parish, St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church. He had a protective spirit and was focused on the safety of those around him. Steve is survived by his wife Marilyn, his son Chris and wife Rachel (Skelton) Dauw of Austin, TX and granddaughters Madeline Dauw and Margot Dauw. Sister Deborah Wojtalak and nieces Lisa Carlson and Laura Morrison and niece Emily Morrison. Sister Betty Miller and husband Jon Miller and nephew Jon Miller and wife Beth (Lauritsen) Miller and niece Katherine Miller.