R. Don Steele

Don's first job was in 1952, age 12. In the heart of Appalachia, he was the Saturday telephone operator in his home town of Shippenville, Pennsylvania, population 258. He earned ten cents an hour. At 16, he worked as an embalmer's assistant for the summer. The next summer, he was an oiler of strip mining equipment, a muddy, cold, dreary, dangerous task. Those two jobs convinced him to get an education. He attended Clarion State, Penn State, USC and Cal State Fullerton to earn a BA in Philosophy and Cal State Northridge for his MA in Psychology. Don has worked for more than 20 aerospace, defense and engineering companies as well as the Republican National Committee and many political campaigns. He and Joanna Bardot Lopez live in Hawaii.