Steve Bearden

(From Hedge-Lewis-Goodwin Funeral Home)

Steven Wayne Bearden was born on July 12, 1958 in Dallas, TX to Patricia Burns and Eddie McGehee. He met Jesus face to face on January 6, 2023 after a brave battle with cancer. Steve grew up in California and moved with his family to Missouri in 1971.

Steve was adopted into the family of God in 1974 when he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Church is where he met Patti, his wife. They were married on September 23, 1978. He loved family and it was priority one, after his relationship with Jesus. He loved being an older brother. He loved being a husband! He loved being a dad! And boy, did he love being a grandpa!

Steve graduated from Carthage High School in 1976. He attended Ozark Christian College and graduated from Missouri Southern State University in 1982. He received a Master of Science in Psychology from Pittsburg State University in 1983. Steve’s patient, caring character and wisdom were gifts that he used in a career devoted to helping others. He worked in the healthcare industry as a Licensed Professional Counselor and in hospital administration.

Having grown up on the Southern California coast, Steve’s love of the ocean remained throughout his life. The beach and the baseball park were some of his happy places, but being with his family - his life’s greatest accomplishment - was his favorite. He modeled every fruit of the Spirit, was the rock of his family and the one everyone turned to for wisdom and guidance. Steve was a peacemaker. He was selfless, authentic, constant, kind, patient, Godly, wise, and funny, notorious for his “dad jokes”. He never complained, even while enduring the worst at the end of his life. His last words on this earth were “Worship the Lord!”

Steve is survived by his wife Patti, daughter Emily Manko and her husband Josh, son Eric and his wife Katie, son-in-love Jenka Korman and fiance Lynn, his adored grandchildren Jenson and Benjamin Korman, Amelia Define, Camden and Brecken Bearden, and Phinn and Soren Manko, his mother Patricia Bearden, brothers Bobby (Carmen) Bearden and Dean (Nina) Bearden, sisters-in-law Pam (Jerry) Kramer and Paula (Alan) Stanley, as well as many nieces and nephews. 

He was preceded in death by his father Eddie, his stepfather Bob Bearden, and his in-laws Don and Anne Witherspoon.

Memorial services are 6:00 p.m. Wednesday, January 11, 2023, at Christ’s Church of Oronogo with Peter Buckland and Dan McGrew officiating. The family will receive friends beginning at 4:00 p.m. at the church on Wednesday. 

Memorials are being directed to the Christ’s Church of Oronogo Youth Ministry c/o the funeral home. Arrangements are under the direction of Hedge-Lewis-Goodwin Funeral Home in Webb City, Missouri.