Steve OBREN

16 NOV 1930 - 12 APR 2014

• RESIDENCE: 2014, Mishawaka, IN
• RELIGION: Saints Peter & Paul Serbian Orthodox Church
  2014
• BIRTH: 16 NOV 1930, South Bend, IN
• BURIAL: Southlawn Cemetery, South Bend, IN
• DEATH: 12 APR 2014, St. Joseph Regional Medical Center, Mishawaka, IN

• MARRIAGE: 29 JAN 1955, St Joseph County, IN

INDEX

[N9246] Steve Obren
Nov. 16, 1930 - Apr. 12, 2014
MISHAWAKA - Steve Obren, 83, of Mishawaka, passed away Saturday morning, April 12, 2014, in St. Joseph Regional Medical Center. Steve was born November 16, 1930 to George and Elsie (Kovachevich) Obren. He grew up in South Bend and Mishawaka. He served his country in the US Army during the Korean War and received a Purple Heart and was most proud of receiving the Combat Infantry Badge. On January 29, 1955, Steve married Verleen Hedman. The couple made Mishawaka their home. For 25 years, Steve owned and operated Steve's Barber Shop in Mishawaka. He later retired from AM General after 18 years of employment. Steve was an active member of Saints Peter & Paul Serbian Orthodox Church in South Bend. He was a member of VFW Post #360 and also the Disabled American Veterans. Steve particularly enjoyed an annual fishing trip to Canada. He liked hunting. Steve enjoyed his twice daily visits with friends at the American Pancake House. He always loved spending time with his family and friends. Steve's surviving family includes his wife of 59 years, Verleen; seven children, George (Denise) Obren, Mark (Debbie) Obren, Tim (Melanie) Obren, Tom (Barb) Obren, Teri (Mike) Harris, Steven Obren and Shari Chadwell; three brothers, Andy (Arlene) Obren, Fred Obren and Pete Obren; three sisters, Rose Harlow, Violet Millage and Mitzi Goethals; and eleven grandchildren, John, Sally, Libby, Kevin, Sarah, Nick, Natalie, Colton, Caitlin, Loren and Emily; and numerous nieces and nephews. Steve was preceded in death by a brother, George Obren; and three sisters, Joan Kovachevich, Donna Bickel and Anna Obren. Services will be held Wednesday at 11 am in Saints Peter & Paul Serbian Orthodox Church, 59250 Keria Trail, South Bend, with Rev. Fr. Sasa Nedic officiating. Burial will follow in Southlawn Cemetery. Military honors will be provided by VFW 360 / American Legion 161 Burial Squad. Friends may spend time with Steve's family Tuesday from 12 noon 2 pm and also 4 pm 7:30 pm in Goethals & Wells Funeral Home, 503 W. 3rd Street, Mishawaka. A prayer service will be held at 7:30 pm. Visitation is also Wednesday from 10 11 am in the church. Memorials are suggested to Saints Peter & Paul Serbian Orthodox Church. An online guest book with the ability to share memories and condolences with Steve's family is available at www.goethalswells.com. Published in South Bend Tribune on Apr. 14, 2014

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Always room for more
March 28, 2006|BILL MOOR
Steve and Verleen Obren's home in Mishawaka seemed to get smaller as their children got bigger. That can happen when you have seven kids -- five of them boys big enough to be lumberjacks -- in a house with 772 square feet. "I still wish they were babies living at home," Verleen says. Instead, they are out in the community making a living and raising their own families. But every Sunday, they all come back home to the little house on Virgil Street to have dinner with their folks. Every Sunday. The 10 grandkids come, too, and often a few friends will join in the feast. "There are so many of us that we have to eat in shifts," says Steven Obren, the youngest boy at 43 and the only unmarried sibling. "You shuffle your feet, you lost your seat," adds Shari Chadwell, the youngest at 37 and expecting the Obrens' 11th grandchild. Yet there is always plenty of food to go around. Verleen starts cooking on Saturday and doesn't stop until her kids start coming over from church or chores. This week, there was chicken, spaghetti, asparagus, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, salad, soup and cake. "The only rule is that you clean your plate," Verleen says. And wash your own dishes, too. A close-knit family, the Obren kids all live within five miles of their parents. They work at places like AM General and B&F Machine and Laidig Inc. George, the oldest Obren offspring at 50, is the former Mishawaka police chief now in charge of code enforcement. They played sports for the Mishawaka Cavemen and helped start the World Whiffleball Tournament. They roughhoused down at a vacant lot they called Strike's Field and came running home as soon as the porch light came on. They kept their noses clean even though their hands and knees and elbows were often playground dirty. They are salt of the earth but never salty around their mom. "I don't think I've ever heard one of the kids use a swear word around their mom," says their dad, Steve, 74. And why would they? Their mother is a saint as far as they are concerned. "Mom is the glue that holds our family together," says Mark Obren, 48, and maybe her biggest eater at 6-feet-7 and close to 300 pounds. And Sunday is the day they continue to honor her by always returning home for her cooking while they crowd around the kitchen and living room together. Always together. "I don't think anybody has held a grudge in our family for more than a day," says Tom Obren, 46. "You get it off your chest and move on." "I think the size of their house helped keep us close over the years," Mark adds. At one point, Mark and George and twins Tim and Tom shared a small room while sister Teri -- now Teri Harris -- was in with their parents. Then Steven and eventually Sheri came along to make it really interesting. Bunk beds were thrown into a utility room to make it a third bedroom. Nobody seemed to mind. Nobody knew any different. And while Steve would go off to work at his own barbershop and then at AM General, Verleen ran the show at home. She later went off to work at Burcliff Industries herself. She is one tough cookie. Already a veteran of two pacemakers, two knee replacements and three back surgeries, she really hasn't slowed down much. "We call her the bionic woman," says Debbie Obren, Mark's wife. She once had a heart attack while making Easter dinner and didn't want to leave. "We almost had to drag her to the hospital," Mark says. Verleen, 71, recovered. So did her family's appetites. She always has made sure her children have had plenty to eat -- and that it was healthy, too. "Occasionally, there was a little bartering going on," Mark says. "I might eat Tim's beets one night, if he promised to eat my spinach the next." Nobody complains now -- about the food or the family. "They know not to come over here with their problems," Steve says. "And I will have to say that my sons married good women and my daughters married good men." Mike Harris, a Mishawaka firefighter, is married to Teri. "I lost my mom and dad in the 1980s and so the Obrens treat me like a son," he says. "I couldn't think of a better family to be a part of." Verleen has extended that family to neighbors and friends, especially when in need. "When we were kids, Mom would send one of us over to our neighbor, Susie Watkins, with a hot meal each day until she died," Mark says. "She and Dad also visited a close friend dying of cancer each day and took her a hot meal. "You reap what you sow." Verleen Obren fortifies her family with good food and loving care. Standing at her stove in her tiny kitchen with her hungry family members surrounding her, she can't think of a better place to be. Bill Moor's column appears on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Contact him at bmoor@sbtinfo.com, or write him at the South Bend Tribune, 225 W. Colfax Ave., South Bend, IN 46626; (574) 235-6072.