Hartford Courant10%
Leslie Steele Obituary | July 24, 2026 | Hartford Courant 9%
By Hartford Courant10%
7/29/2026, 9:05:00 PM
Topics: Obituary
Keywords: Leslie Emerson Steele Jr, Obituaries
BS Summary: This article contains 18 faulty reasoning types, including Anecdotal, Halo Effect, and Appeal to Emotion, with Biased Writer Voice as the most egregious example at 27.4% saturation with 277 hits. Analysis detected 1,266 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,011 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 25.1% and a BS Rank of 9% (20,307 of 22,230 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 91.30% of the article peer group.
Leslie Emerson Steele, Jr.
(Les), 82, a devoted son, husband, father, grandfather and loyal friend, passed away Friday morning (July 24, 2026) surrounded by loved ones at Hebrew Home, West Hartford.
He was the eldest son of the late Janet (Benjamin) Steele and Leslie E.
Steele, Sr.
He was born in Miami, Florida, on December 5, 1943, on the Naval Base while his father was serving in WWII.
He had lived in Avon and spent many summers at his home in Black Point Beach, Niantic.
Les was a proud graduate of Forman in Litchfield, CT, class of 1962, and received his Bachelor’s Degree from Salem College in West Virginia in 1970.
He was also a proud veteran who served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War.
After leaving the Army, he began his career in real estate, starting with J.
Watson Beach and ending his career in 2022 with William Raveis.
He is survived by his wife, Ann E.
Steele; his three daughters, Cynthia A.
Monarca, Wendy E.
Beebe and Sandra J.
Crain and three grandchildren, Sarah, Charlotte and Caroline.
He is also survived by his brother and sister-in-law, John B.
Steele, Col.
U.S.
Air Force, Ret., and Frances R.
Steele and their son John R.
Steele and his cousin Lee Steele.
He also leaves behind his two closest friends, Stephen Wasley and Mark Gagliardi.
He was predeceased by his mother-in-law Alma H.
Ellis, his brother-in-law John B.
McConnell and son-in-law Seth N.
Beebe.
Les was known to be meticulous and kept hardcover daily calendar reminder books starting from 1974 up until his passing in 2026.
He was devoted to his parents and spoke often of his childhood growing up on Highland Lake and of the cocker spaniels his mother raised and showed, especially Mimi and Sir John.
He was a well-dressed and enthusiastic bachelor for the first forty-three and a half years of his life.
He shopped at Stackpole Moore Tryon on Asylum in Hartford, drove nice cars from his grandfather’s / father’s dealership Benjamin Motors in Torrington and was active in many social clubs.
He was a fan of 50’s and 60’s classic rock music, the Red Sox and was a fantastic dancer.
Per his daily calendar reminder on October 5, 1987, he was re-acquainted with, then Ann Crain at the CT Real Estate convention.
On October 7th, he called her to set up their first date the following night, noting “7PM Meet A.
Crain – Windsor Res.
Go to Carbone’s then dancing.”
By December 2nd, it was evident that something about his relationship with Ann would be different with the entry “11AM Take A.
Crain’s dog to vet.”.
During all the previous years, there was no mention of him having ever taken another woman’s dog to the vet.
They were married on April 22, 1989, and he officially assumed the role of a Father to three young women at the time, ages 19 to 24.
He became a grandfather for the first time in 2002 and it brought him great joy having his grandchildren spend the summers with him on the CT Shoreline.
His eldest granddaughter remembers fondly having so much fun bringing him to her dad and daughter dances growing up.
They would always have such an amazing time dressing up and tearing up the dance floor.
It always meant so much to her that he had as much fun as she did going to them.
He also loved taking walks with them, and they would have a contest to see who could count the most bunnies along the way as well as talk about the Red Sox.
Les also had a superb memory.
If you mentioned a date, he could recall what day of the week it fell on, the weather that day and what occurred.
Even having been diagnosed with dementia, up until a few days before his passing, he thrilled his two Forman classmates by instantly calling out a former classmate’s name he hadn’t seen in years when they FaceTimed her from his hospital bed.
In later life, he also had a “touch” of OCD, which was confirmed one day by an Avon sanitation employee remarking, “You have the cleanest trash bin I’ve ever seen.”
The bin wasn’t new.
It had been carefully used for over 10 years.
Only trash that was “acceptable,” double-checked to be free of any errant items and, in some cases, double-bagged, was worthy to go in the trash bin.
Anything of a questionable or messy nature was double-bagged and driven straight to the local landfill, bypassing the bin completely.
He was an extremely kind and caring person and had an unwavering optimism.
He often quoted and embodied the teachings of Norman Vincent Peale.
“The way to happiness: Keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry.
Live simply, expect little, give much.
Scatter sunshine, forget self, think of others.
Try this for a week and you will be surprised.”
“It’s always too early to quit.”
And sadly, “The only people who don’t have problems are in a cemetery.”
Les underlined an anonymous poem years ago in “The Amazing Results of Positive Thinking” written by Norman Vincent Peale that captured his last moments on this earth perfectly:
Every morning, lean thine arms awhile
Upon the window-sill of Heaven,
And gaze upon the Lord…
Then, with that vision in thy heart,
Turn strong to meet the day.
It was an absolutely beautiful Friday morning at 10 AM, 72 degrees with the sun shining brightly and not a cloud in the sky.
He will be deeply missed.
Family and friends will attend private burial services in Forest View Cemetery, Winsted, in September.
Details to follow.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
Its mission is to provide mortgage-free homes to the families of fallen first responders and catastrophically injured veterans.
The Carmon Funeral Home & Family Center of Avon is caring for the arrangements.
To leave condolences for the family, please visit www.carmonfuneralhome.com
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