Steven Mark Harrah was born on Jan. 6, 1970 in Sonoma, California, to Richard L. Harrah and Velma Jane (Morton) Harrah.
He was the youngest of four sons and the fourth 10+ pounder, the heaviest of the lot. Though he had a late start, he eventually outgrew all of his brothers. Dad always told the story that, after mom’s doctor found out she was pregnant with Steve, he called him at work and said, “Richard! You come to the hospital Friday and we’re going to take care of you so there will be no more 10lb babies”…and so he did!
When Steve was four, his parents sold out in California and moved to Houston, Missouri, the birthplace of his mom. They built a new home on five acres of the original Morton homeplace that Minta had given to all her children. Along with his older brother, they figured they had moved to the “promised land.” They had the run of most of the remaining 40 acres and did just that!
Steve loved everything about life in rural Missouri. He played the drums in the high school band. (Dad had to buy countless drum heads!) He took after his two older brothers and caught the “car bug” that they all caught from their father. The main difference was that Steve decided to make it a career of building drag race cars. In between, he took gigs on the TV show Trick My Truck and worked for/with other “car guys,” although usually/eventually not well…Steve moved to the beat of his own drum.
He ended up in a shop of his own in Greenbriar, Arkansas while with his fourth S.O., who eventually became his fourth ex…different drum beats. But damn, he was good at fabrication of any sort. He built all types of sportsman-class drag cars and several ProMod cars — the last one went into the mid-3-second elapsed time at 228 mph in the ⅛ mile. (It also set the track record and won the event!) Anyone who has seen his work can testify to his talent.
The other part of that equation is he was self taught…that included writing code for CNC fabrication. Along with his restless energy, Steve picked up the habit of smoking at an early age, which led to a four-pack-a-day habit by the time his heart stopped on May 17, 2023. He coded seven times over a 90-minute period at the hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas. They fished in a temporary pacemaker (eventually a permanent one too) and discovered he has Stage 3 lung cancer. Twenty-one days later, we hauled tail for Missouri to get him into the hospital system in Rolla/Columbia/St. Louis to get him “on his feet” to take treatments. And like everything else in life, Steve fought like a man possessed to beat it. It began by quitting cold-turkey, the 40+ year smoking habit that contributed to his cancer.
Steve had taken the last immunotherapy treatment in mid-September 2024 before mom suddenly became ill and passed in mid-October. The Friday after we buried her, he fell coming in the front door of his brother’s house and a CT scan confirmed the cancer had metastasized to his brain. Intensive radiation treatment the first two weeks of November were to no avail. Between his damaged lungs and the tumor on the base of the brain, the cancer finally squeezed the life out of him on Jan. 13, seven days after his 55th birthday. His physical heart function by that time was back up to normal, but more importantly his “heart” was as strong as ever…I know his one wish for you if you smoke is for you to find a way to quit, please.
Steve was preceded in death by his father and mother, Richard L. and Velma J. Harrah and his nephew, Christopher A. Harrah. He is survived by his brothers, Richard A., Michael D., and Paul J. Harrah; his daughter, Bayle Nicole, her boyfriend Bobby Tsiaklides, and her mother Kary Harrah; his granddaughters Harley, Raegan, and Emery Herrin, and baby Tsiaklides due this spring; his son-in-law Lane Herrin; his stepdaughter Chelsye Scantlin; his stepdaughter Savannah Page; and a host of nieces, nephews and cousins.
Steve’s wish was that “a bunch of money not be spent on a traditional funeral and casket burial.” So the family will plan a celebration of life in the spring to be announced.