Steel worked at the geothermal plants PG&E built in the early 1970s at The Geysers.
Richard “Dick” Steele, a Pearl Harbor survivor who learned about steam power working in the bellies of destroyers and went on to help open early geothermal plants at The Geysers, has died in San Francisco at age 94.
Steele lived in Santa Rosa for 30 years before he moved to San Francisco to live with his daughter, Debra Sturmer, in 1999. While he was still living in retirement in Santa Rosa, he was renowned for the chili he cooked up with whatever ingredients were available at the soup kitchen operated by Catholic Charities.
“It was requested” by frequent diners at the kitchen, Steele’s daughter said. “It was always a challenge to see what he could do with whatever they had.”
Steele was born in Virginia and grew up in Maryland. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1939. On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, he was working in the boiler room of the dry-docked destroyer the USS Downes at Pearl Harbor when the skies began to rain bombs and torpedoes.
The Downes was badly damaged and had to be abandoned. Steel would recall that never knew how he got from the boiler room to an aid station on shore.
The Downes would be rebuilt and recommissioned, but her crew was reassigned. Steele was transferred to the destroyer USS Helm, which he called “the luckiest ship in the Navy” because it didn’t lose a single crewman to the war.
He was a chief petty officer when he received his honorable discharge in 1949. He settled in San Francisco and married the following year. He and his wife, Jeanette, had two sons and a daughter.
Steel went to work as an instrument repairman for Pacific Gas & Electric Co. Building on skills learned in ships’ boiler rooms, he worked at the Potrero and Hunters Point power plants, and at the geothermal plants PG&E built in the early 1970s at The Geysers.
He retired after 30 years and spent more time volunteering and enjoying Big Band music. His daughter said he loved the late Lena Horne and he sang a worthy rendition of “Ace in the Hole.”
Steele was active for years in the Santa Rosa-based Chapter 23 of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association.
He and Jeannette had been married nearly 50 years when she died in 1999. Steele moved a short while later to his daughter’s house in San Francisco.
His fell ill with pneumonia and died at the medical center at the University of California at San Francisco.
Preceded in death by son Richard Steel Jr., he is survived by his daughter in San Francisco, son Robert Steel of Oakland and two grandchildren.
Services are at 11 a.m. Friday at the chapel at Santa Rosa Memorial Park.
“It was requested” by frequent diners at the kitchen, Steele’s daughter said. “It was always a challenge to see what he could do with whatever they had.”
Steele was born in Virginia and grew up in Maryland. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1939. On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, he was working in the boiler room of the dry-docked destroyer the USS Downes at Pearl Harbor when the skies began to rain bombs and torpedoes.
The Downes was badly damaged and had to be abandoned. Steel would recall that never knew how he got from the boiler room to an aid station on shore.
The Downes would be rebuilt and recommissioned, but her crew was reassigned. Steele was transferred to the destroyer USS Helm, which he called “the luckiest ship in the Navy” because it didn’t lose a single crewman to the war.
He was a chief petty officer when he received his honorable discharge in 1949. He settled in San Francisco and married the following year. He and his wife, Jeanette, had two sons and a daughter.
Steel went to work as an instrument repairman for Pacific Gas & Electric Co. Building on skills learned in ships’ boiler rooms, he worked at the Potrero and Hunters Point power plants, and at the geothermal plants PG&E built in the early 1970s at The Geysers.
He retired after 30 years and spent more time volunteering and enjoying Big Band music. His daughter said he loved the late Lena Horne and he sang a worthy rendition of “Ace in the Hole.”
Steele was active for years in the Santa Rosa-based Chapter 23 of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association.
He and Jeannette had been married nearly 50 years when she died in 1999. Steele moved a short while later to his daughter’s house in San Francisco.
His fell ill with pneumonia and died at the medical center at the University of California at San Francisco.
Preceded in death by son Richard Steel Jr., he is survived by his daughter in San Francisco, son Robert Steel of Oakland and two grandchildren.
Services are at 11 a.m. Friday at the chapel at Santa Rosa Memorial Park.
