I first saw Steve Sattazahn when I was in fifth grade during the annual choral concert put on by grades four, five, and six of the Eastern Lebanon County Schools, before we were known as Elco. This would have been in the spring of 1960.

The concert was organized by my uncle, Curtis Troutman, who was the music teacher for the elementary school system, and I’ve written about it here. Pianists were needed to accompany the chorus, and on this occasion most of the accompaniments were furnished by two Schaefferstown kids, Steve Sattazahn and Cindy Keller, both of them excellent pianists already at that tender age.

I didn’t see Steve again until the new Elco High School was built several years later, and I began to mix regularly with the kids from the neighboring communities. I’m not sure exactly when, but somewhere along the line, Steve became one the kids that I hung around with.

Junior year he was one of the Irregulars, the group that provided the morning wake up program over the school’s PA system.

Senior year he got the lead in the class play, The Solid Gold Cadillac, playing Edward L. McKeever to Pamela Barry’s Mrs. Laura Partridge.

Then it was off to Penn State where he roomed with Allen Maurer in Mifflin Hall.

That first year at Penn State, I used to visit Steve and Allen at least once a month from my dorm in East Halls, and the following year I moved into Mifflin Hall as well.

Steve and Allen were great card players, and I often joined them, along with Irv and Herbie and a few others, in games of Hearts and especially Pinochle.

Steve’s perpetually sunny disposition provided a contrast to Allen’s typically dour one, so they made something of a classic odd couple.

During summer break, Steve and I went to several plays at the Green Hills Theatre, near Reading, PA.

After that second year in Mifflin Hall, Steve and Allen joined with Herbie (John Herbert, actually) and rented an apartment off campus. I went to see them at least once, and then I pretty much lost track of them.

For decades. Along with pretty much all of my high school classmates.

Word has just come that Steve Sattazahn, who was suffering from Parkinson’s Disease for the last few years, has died after emergency surgery.

As of now I haven’t received information about an obituary, but if I do, I’ll update this post.