Elsie Elfrieda Enns Steelberg, MD, 89, died peacefully on November 27 in Buhler, KS, with her husband at her bedside. She was beloved by her husband of 64 years, Donald Steelberg, and their four sons and their families.
Elsie was born in Newton, KS, on June 8, 1934, and grew up in Buhler, the daughter of Herman and Margaret (Reimer) Enns, the third of four children. She attended Tabor College and graduated from Northwestern University in 1956. She graduated from Northwestern Medical School in 1960 and completed her anesthesiology residency in 1964. She was an anesthesiologist for 13 years before deciding to go back to school for psychiatry, completing her psychiatry residency in 1981 from SUMMA Health System/Northeast Ohio Medical University in Rootstown, Ohio.
In 1954, Elsie transferred from Tabor College to Northwestern University and went to live with her sister Margaret in Chicago, where they attended Moody Bible Church. Elsie met Donald Steelberg at an InterVarsity meeting at Northwestern in 1954. After graduation in 1956, the couple exchanged letters for three years while she was in medical school and he was at Princeton Theological Seminary. They married in Chicago in 1959 and raised four sons in Chicago, IL, Wichita, KS, and Wadsworth, OH.
She joined Lorraine Avenue Mennonite Church in Wichita when Donald took an Associate Pastor position there in 1965. They moved to Wadsworth in 1968 when Donald became Pastor at First Mennonite and Elsie worked at Wadsworth Rittman Hospital and Akron General Medical Center. After 15 years in Wadsworth, she and Donald moved back to Wichita in 1984, where she practiced psychiatry first with Prairie View and then in private practice, for a total of 36 years.
Elsie loved psychiatry and cared deeply for her patients. She enjoyed teaching students from the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Wichita. She served on the Wichita-Sedgwick County Board of Health. She was proud of her time serving on the Mennonite General Conference's Human Sexuality Committee from 1982 to 1987. She was an early supporter of gay marriage and LBGTQ+ rights at a time when this was not a popular position in her church and continued to advocate for these rights within the Mennonite Church throughout her lifetime.
Outside of work, she loved to read and to travel. At the time of her death she was reading Cicero, My Antonia, and Seneca: Letters from a Stoic. She was pleased to welcome four daughters-in-law into the family after raising four boys. She loved cooking her sons' favorite foods, including "western" flapjacks, beef and potato soup, Caesar salad, potato salad, cookies of all types, red velvet cake, and custard pie. She insisted on making pudding on the stove, never instant. She loved visiting with her grandchildren and hearing of their exploits. Her grandchildren remember playing games with her and that she was always a great sport, even drinking the "tea" they made for her out of warm water and Jolly Ranchers (her favorites), Skittles, or M&Ms, whatever candy she brought with her on her visit.
In addition to her husband, Elsie is survived by her four sons and daughters-in-law - Jeremy (Caroline), Chicago, IL; Nelson (Nancy), McLean, VA; Derek (Maria), Naples, FL; and Schuyler (Kathleen), Cookson, OK. She is survived by ten grandchildren: Tierney (Jillian), Grinnell, IA; Connor, Brooklyn, NY; Johanna Braunsdorf (Michael), Seattle, WA; Malena, Los Angeles, CA; Matthew, Charlottesville, VA; Solenne, Chicago, IL; and Cameron and Graham of Chicago, IL. She is also survived by her sister, Ramona Binci, of Conway, AR, and many nephews, nieces, grandnephews and grandnieces. She was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Margaret, and her brother Harry.
A private service will be held at Sunshine Meadows Retirement Community in Buhler. A private burial will be held at Lorraine Avenue Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Lorraine Avenue Mennonite Church in care of Buhler Mortuary, 120 N Main, PO Box 589, Buhler, KS 67522.