Stephen Patrick Aherne

Stephen Patrick Aherne, who preferred to be called Steve, died suddenly of a heart attack on Friday, October 4, 2024. Steve was born in Leeds, England on September 29, 1960. He is survived by his wife of 19 years, Karen (Rummel) Aherne and his three step children, Annie, Abbey and Will Kerns, and their spouse Marcus Lee and Sydney Kerns, and their children Bryson, DeAndre and Melinie. His sister, Victoria McGuigan, her three children Leighton and his wife Sophie, Robyn and Jacob, his brother Robert Aherne and his wife Claudia, his brother Barry McGuigan, and his great nephews and nieces; all of England. Steve lived a very full life of adventure and kept a smile on his face all the time. He made friends very easily and was never at a loss to tell you like it was. He was very blunt and to the point, not always to everyone's liking, but he wouldn’t lie to your face. Steve’s early formative years were spent running around Leeds with his younger brother Robert getting up to all sorts of shenanigans and raising only the kind of hell a teenage boy in the 1970’s could. When Steve was 16 he was working in a restaurant kitchen and was the creator of their union. He saw the unfair working conditions that were going on, and being the erudite young man he was, he organized. Steve joined the Royal Artillery in February of 1980, serving in Germany as a Signaller and also doing a Special Forces course in Canada to which when he would reminisce about it, he would say just how awful it was and how “Bloody Baltic” it was at night. His service ended in 1984 but Steve was always up for an adventure. Living under Thatcher’s England, jobs were few and far between for Steve in his twenties and thirties. He worked various jobs here and there between being on the dole and taking classes at the local university. He would always have time for his sister, Victoria and her three children. Going down to Devon for weekend visits and even moving her up to Leeds during tumultuous times to keep her and her son safe. He loved his niece and nephews so much and wished they could all move to America so they could all be together. The summer of 2007 Leighton was able to come over and spend time with him. He was so happy! They did all the fun things he had been wanting to do, amusement parks, beach, jet-ski ride, baseball game; he had a blast that summer. Steve worked as a Close Protection Officer in Iraq alongside the American Security Forces during the Iraq War. He got to work alongside the Japanese contingent as well, and he was very proud of that. While working in the “sand pit” he met his wife Karen and it was true love. They married in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 27, 2005 and that was the start of his American Adventure. He started the paperwork for his citizenship, and he became a full American Citizen in 2012. Steve was very chuffed with that, as he was very happy with his adopted country and his new life in America. Steve would try anything once. From learning to drive big rigs, to being a Fed Ex Driver, to helping his wife by being her janitor at her theater for several years. He enjoyed the job as a Casino Dealer at Rocky Gap, meeting new people on a daily basis and having to adjust that thick Yorkshire accent to ask people, “Do you have a card?” He was a voracious reader, picking up several books at a time and finishing them all within the week. He was a life-long boxing enthusiast even to the point of training some of his friends from the casino. Once, in late 1998, Steve decided he was going to go and train at Gleeson’s Gym in New York. This was a very famous boxing gym. He got himself a job, saved every last pence, hopped on a plane and found himself training where some of his favorite boxers had trained in April of 1999. A lover of music, he was always listening to different bands and different genres. In the Army, they called him Brucey, because he listened to Bruce Springsteen so much. His step-daughter, Annie used to tease him for listening to the band Cream while taking her to school. He would play “I’m so glad” over and over. He was a big rap fan and he and his other stepdaughter Abbey would listen to Nas together. He enjoyed watching sports and liked to toss the baseball or the football around with his step-son, Will, when he was a youngster. He was always available for advice, and would give proper sound advice, no sugar coating anything. In recent years the ease of using social media to stay in contact was such a positive thing for Steve. He was able to Facetime his family and friends in England and, of course, getting his sister Tor, Robyn and her son Theodore over here for semi-annual visits was a priority. He loved when they would visit. And of course, he would try to convince them to move here. Through the internet he was always in contact with someone in England. Talking politics with Leighton when things would be crazy or wild in the world, chatting about problems and offering advice to Jacob, and of course, talking dinosaurs or Godzilla with Theodore during chats with his sister and Robyn. In 2020 Steve became a grandpa. This was the stage in his life where he really bloomed. He loved being a Grandpa. He would send little videos to Bryson and pick him up after school to take him to the playground. He would visit DeAndre and they would play ball or ride on his little car. He was so excited for Melinie, who was just born in September. He had loads of plans for Grandpa Steve adventures with them as they were growing up. Steve loved life. He lived every day to the absolute fullest. He didn’t believe in regrets and he didn’t believe in negativity. “Look toward the future, I’m positive and hopeful” he would say. Then he would troll someone on Twitter. He was a man in full, and lived his life that way. The Celebration of Life will be on February 22, 2025. Details will be posted on Steve and Karen’s Facebook in January of 2025 for anyone who would like to attend.