Frederick Lee Steely was born in Kansas City, Kansas, on April 16, 1933, to Jean Cairns. He passed away on Tuesday, Nov. 24, at the Lake Stockton Healthcare Facility.
After high school, Fred served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. After discharge from military service in 1955, he returned to his grandmother's farm and lived there, farming and doing custom work, until declining health required moving to a nursing home in 2018.
Fred drove only one vehicle in his adult life — a 1952 Chevrolet pickup he got in 1955. Fred preferred driving gravel roads rather than paved roads. He knew the network of gravel roads over a large area of Southwest Missouri and Eastern Kansas.
Survivors include an uncle, Merle Steely; numerous cousins; and many friends.
He is preceded in death by his mother, Jean Cairns; and an infant sister.
