Redlands man was cowboy at heart

 

July 5, 2005

By Staff Report

 

REDLANDS - Steve Dirksen, known as "California Steve' on the cowboy poetry circuit, performed at a number of cowboy poetry events and gatherings, including regular engagements at the Gene Autry Museum of Western Heritage and the Big Bear Cowboy Poetry Gathering.

 

The longtime Redlands resident died of Lou Gehrig's disease June 9 at Asistencia Villa in Redlands. He was 60.

 

He was born Oct. 28, 1944, in El Dorado, Kan. He moved with his family to Loma Linda in 1957 and then to Redlands two years later. After graduating from high school in 1962, he served with the Army in Vietnam.

 

He received a bachelor's degree from Cal State San Bernardino in 1974, and he became an elementary school teacher at La Granada Elementary School in Riverside.

 

He remained a teacher at the school for 29 years and retired in 2003 after he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease.

 

Dirksen began writing cowboy poetry in 1996, sending his first poem to American Cowboy Magazine, which was later published. In 2001 he was named one of eight winners in the sixth annual CowboyPoetry.com Lariat Laureate contest for his poem "Face the Day,' a reflection on the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

 

His fascination with the cowboy lifestyle began in the early 1980s, and he infused a number of cowboy themes and lessons into his teaching method.

 

Survivors include his wife of 37 years, Eileen Dirksen of Redlands; a daughter, Elisabeth Dirksen; a son, Joseph Dirksen; his mother, Eileen Ruth Dirksen of Redlands; a brother, Mike Dirksen of Angwin; and a sister, Kathleen Purdy of Redlands.

 

Services were private.