OUR STORY
The brain cancer monster can attack the cells that give you the ability to read, write, speak, and think. My father, Steve Stitzel, was a teacher who spent most of his retirement years writing on his computer at his cabin in Northern Michigan, on a ranch in Texas, at his camper in Tennessee, and on his deck in the hills of Athens County in Ohio. Now unable to spend his last days doing what he loves, he finds peace with paints on canvas. His art isn't meant to be sold as original fine art pieces. Instead, we see it as art that can be digitally manipulated in the consumer goods I've designed for our collection, The STITZ Brain Cancer Monster. With a simple reflection of an image, the monster appeared provoking our first collaborative series.
Diagnosed with a grade 4, glioblastoma brain tumor in April 2024, my brother and my 77-year-old dad likely has 5 to 11 months to live. He underwent radiation at Ohio Health Riverside Hospital for 4 weeks which was fortunately five minutes away from where I live in Columbus, Ohio. He recently returned to Ohio after spending three years in Tennessee near my brother Ian, and his family, wife Jenna, and daughters Willa (8) and Brinley (4). Prior to his cancer diagnosis, I was anxious to start a new life back at the beach following the rough years during my divorce and Covid. I had returned to Ohio after spending six years in Los Angeles pursuing my career. Now no longer interested in the corporate or Hollywood life, I seek comfort on my computer. I work remotely for the bold hair color brand, Splat, as a packaging designer and often utilize paint splat graphics in my design work.
The idea to place my dad's art into consumer goods that can be printed, assembled, and shipped upon order gave us both a way to work together on a project that might turn into a little business. Now all the time that I have had to give up working to take care of him can give him a way to help me be compensated. Mostly, I just want him to be able to enjoy his dying days as I prepare to move to St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands where my boyfriend, a Nurse Practitioner and Nephrologist, has been offered a job to help run one of the only Kidney centers on the islands for dialysis. As creative and competitive people, neither my dad nor I understood much about taking care of people. This experience has improved our relationship and hopefully will allow me to move on with my life with no regrets as he feels he lived his life to the fullest.
Steve C. Stitzel
November 30, 1946 - November 30, 2024
Steven C. Stitzel, “Stitz”, a resident of Ohio, passed away from complications from a Glioblastoma Brain Tumor on his 78th birthday at 7:05 pm on November 30, 2024, in hospice care at the Kobacker House with both his children by his side. His final hours were spent just a mile away from Ohio Stadium during the Ohio State vs. Michigan game. Unable to meet his goal of surviving to the end of the college football season, Steve crossed his final finish line 35 minutes after his birth time. Born at 6:30pm on Saturday, November 30, 1946 in Hamilton, Ohio to the late Clarance and Amy Lou [King] Stitzel, he is survived by daughter, Annie Elizabeth [Stitzel] Travis of Columbus, and son, Ian Jeremy [wife Jenna & daughters Willa and Brinley] Stitzel of Christiana, Tennessee. He was preceded in death by sister, Tonda Edington of Lebanon, Ohio, and survived by sister Connie [the late, Danny] Dyer of Alger.
Steve had prepared an obituary for his family while undergoing treatment for prostate cancer that returned in 2023, but was unexpectedly diagnosed with a brain tumor which was removed on April 15, 2024 at Riverside Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. He lost most of his ability to speak, read, write, and think clearly, becoming completely dependent on his daughter Annie and sister Connie for the last 7 months of his life. Battling a devastating and aggressive cancer that gave him a prognosis with less than a year left to live, Steve turned to abstract visual art when he was no longer able to pursue his passion for writing. His dying wish was that Annie, an artist and designer, help have his artwork produced [the originals will be auctioned at a later date] to share his story about battling an aggressive form of brain cancer. A blog and store are featured on her website, annietravis.com/cancercollab, where a series of abstract art will be printed on canvases, posters and a variety of merchandise for a limited time only.
To age nine the family resided in rural Butler County near Oxford, Ohio, where both the Stitzels and Kings had family farms that provided an exciting childhood that Steve often wrote about in later years, including a column entitled “The King Farm” in the monthly Reilly Reflector newspaper throughout the 1970s. The family moved to Northwest Ohio in the mid-50’s where Steve, a standout athlete, graduated from McGuffey-McDonald High School in 1965 before moving back to Oxford when he scored a combined basketball/baseball scholarship to Miami University. Transferring to Bluffton College in 1976, he graduated with a BW in 1969. Steve also won a United Nations appointment to attend Exeter College [Oxford University, England] his junior year, returning 2 summers to backpack the entirety of Great Britain and outlying Scottish Isles with a dear friend, experiences that he has written about extensively. In 1973 he was awarded an MEd from Bowling Green State University.
For thirty years Steve taught at Blufton High School/Middle School, where he particularly enjoyed teaching under [the late] principal Dan Rumer. Across the years Steve taught history/government/sociology/health education/PE/driver education, in addition to serving as Student Senate advisor. He coached basketball at all levels, golf, football, volleyball, track and field and cross country. His boys and girls CC teams of the early 90’s won multiple district and regional championships and scored high in the state meet in Columbus on four occasions. He was named Northwest Ohio CC Coach of the Year twice and [per Steve] their greatest wins were the boys 1991 and 1993 Tiffin CC Carnival championships which was the second largest CC invitation in the nation for many years. He also served as head men’s track & field coach at Bluffton College from 1987-90. His finest memories were the opportunity to teach and coach his children who were standout student-athletes at BHS.
Steve’s life was largely driven by the desire for adventure and multiple experiences. For 14 years while teaching he was also a farrier throughout northwest Ohio and eastern Indiana, and spent several summers in Bozeman, Montana [where he had graduated farrier school at Montana State University in 1977] to shoe on the rodeo circuit. Following teaching [and several years with Cowan Realtors in Lima, Ohio] he moved to northern Michigan and began the next 24 years moving every three years, usually to a different state and challenging himself to do something completely different.
Across the last quarter century of life, Steve resided in Northern Michigan for 7 years, returned to Ohio for 3 years [teaching 2 years at Upper Scioto Valley High School], spent 3 years living on a Texas ranch, purchased a lake cabin in Michigan’s UP, moved to the mountains of SE Tennessee near his son’s family, lived in Athens, Ohio, with dear friends, and completed his life’s journey in Columbus, Ohio, with his daughter while he received cancer treatment. Steve also enjoyed spending winters in North Palm Beach, Florida and Cozumel, Mexico.
Following retirement, Steve Stitzel was a licensed realtor in both Ohio and Michigan, a bartender, ski-lift operator, worked for his friend Jane’s Harbor Springs liquidation service, the Michigan Department of Youth Services, was a lumberjack in the Upper Peninsula, a ranch hand in Texas and worked at Lowe’s in Tullahoma, Tennessee, shortly before Covid. He was an author of multiple novels and Black Bear Blog. In 2023 he was inducted into the Hardin County [Ohio] Sports Hall of Fame, as one of the top sports athletes to compete in the county.
Besides his children and granddaughters, his dogs Holden, Cosmo, George, and Bear were the loves of his life and he considered himself fortunate to have dear friends, especially including Scott Basinger of Bluffton, Mark Creamer of Columbus, the late Jan Mancour of Harbor Springs, Michigan, and the late Rick Rolston of Athens, Ohio.
In lieu of flowers and a service to honor Steve Stitzel’s memory, his daughter has opened an online store (annietravis.com/shop-cancercollab) for Stitz’s Brain Tumor artwork. Proceeds will help cover expenses from his care during cancer treatment and donations will be made to the American Cancer Society. A celebration of life will be held in Bluffton, Ohio during the summer of 2025 before his family spread his ashes in Northern Michigan.