Steven “Scuba” A. Sorensen, age 64, passed away at his home on Monday, April 23, 2018.

Steve was born in Fremont on March 18, 1954, to Nadine and Allan Sorensen. Growing up Steve li

ked playing little league baseball and was extremely active in Boy Scouts. He worked very hard and earned his Eagle Scout Badge. He graduated from Arlington High School in 1972. Steve worked at Reitzel Natural Gas until 1980 and CF Industries for two years after high school. Steve married Linda and together they raised their two boys in Arlington, Nebraska. For the past 38 years he worked for the Washington County Roads Department as a road grader operator.

Steve dedicated a lot of time to perfecting the track for the Arlington Youth Sports Annual Tractor Pull.

He enjoyed spending his spare time helping at the Sorensen Sod Farm.

Steve loved spending time with his grandchildren and he especially loved teaching them life lessons. He was passionate about woodworking. Steve found humor in everything and loved to make people laugh.

Preceded in death by his father Allan.

Survived by his wife, Linda Sorensen; sons, Dusty (Kelli) Sorensen and their children Lane, Eli, Avery, Alaina, Kaelyn, and Jack, of Columbus; and Jesse (Tami) Sorensen and their children Jace and Jack of Arlington; dear friend Keri Erixon and her daughter Ireland; mother, Nadine Buchardt Sorensen; brother, Kevin (Cari) Sorensen of Fremont; brother-in-law, Bob Pawling; brother-in-law, Tom (Tammy) Pawling; sister-in-law, Mary (Dan) Molliconi and their son Jacob; many other nieces, nephews, family and friends.

Please visit www.duganchapel.com to leave an online condolence.

A Graveside Celebration of Life service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, April 26, 2018, at the Lincoln Lutheran Cemetery in Orum, Nebraska.

#2-Published in the Enterprise May 4, 2018 and written by Leeanna Ellis

(Two Photo's) A longtime Washington County Roads Department employee is being remembered for his sense of humor and determination.

Steve “Scuba” Sorensen, 64, died April 23 at his home following a diagnosis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). He worked for the roads department for more than 35 years as a road grader operator.

“He was always a happy-go-lucky guy,” said Bob Smith, a foreman with the roads department, who worked alongside Sorensen for 35 years. “He was a heck of a road grader operator. He never had many bad roads.”

Sorensen maintained roads from Arlington to Telbasta and west to the Elkhorn River. Smith said he stayed ahead of his roads following hazardous weather, including plowing snow.

“The bigger the drift the faster he'd go,” Smith said. “He taught a lot of guys up here how to push snow.”

Sorensen was also known around the shop for his sense of humor, often pranking many of his co-workers.

“There was a standing joke around here that once in a while guys would put a little grease on the back side of the door handles and you wouldn't know it,” Smith said.

When his co-workers went to clean up Sorensen's road grader to place at the entrance of the cemetery for his funeral, they found a slippery substance on the handle.

“That guy just got me one last time,” one of them said.

Sorensen had asked his children to grease the handle for him. His daughter-in-law, Tami, confirmed he had indeed asked and his children gladly obliged.

“They greased the handles, the doors, everything,” Tami said.

Sorensen would sport a Hawaiian shirt on what he called “Aloha Fridays.” At his funeral April 26, many of his co-workers wore their own Hawaiian shirts to show their support.

Sorensen used his road grader experience to ready the track every year for the annual Arlington Youth Sports tractor pull. The organizers for the tractor pull could always count on Sorensen even if the weather was less than favorable, Tami said.

“He said he could fix anything,” she said. “It could rain all night and it could be a swamp and he would make it perfect. However he worked his magic, it just happened.”

Sorensen's determination was evident, his co-workers said, as he battled rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

“Most people would belly ache and whine about it, but it never seemed to bother him,” Smith said. “He was always proud of his work and always happy to help anyone do whatever he could.”

Tami agreed.

“He'd build things. He was constantly helping us around the house,” she said. “You would have never known he had RA. His hands were never a problem for him.”

Sorensen was still working the day he fell ill, leaving to go to the emergency room after complaining of shortness of breath. That's when doctors diagnosed him with end stage ALS. Tami said they believe his arthritis masked the symptoms of the disease.

“We all were really happy that he didn't have that diagnosis (earlier). The diagnosis is never a good one,” Tami said. “All of his family, we just feel like it really could have made him maybe that maybe life wasn't worth fighting for. He fought every day.”

Tami said her father-in-law will be remembered for his positive attitude and the lessons he taught his children and grandchildren.

“They are life lessons that you can take with you forever,” she said. “I think that's what made him so special.”

Sorensen is survived by his wife, Linda; sons, Dusty (Kelli) Sorensen and their children, Lane, Eli, Avery, Alaina, Kaelyn and Jack, of Columbus; and Jesse (Tami) Sorensen and their children, Jace and Jack, of Arlington; mother, Nadine Buchardt Sorensen; brother, Kevin (Cari) Sorensen of Fremont; brother-in-law, Bob Pawling; brother-in-law, Tom (Tammy Pawling); sister-in-law, Mary (Dan) Molliconi and their son, Jacob; and many other nieces, nephews, family and friends.

Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clipping on file at the Blair Public Library.