Dates
Stephen Dale Burpee was born to Scott and Jan Burpee in Juba, South Sudan, where they worked as missionaries for World Concern. Steve and his family moved to to the Seattle area in October 1982, and moved to St. Maries, Idaho, in January 1986, where Steve grew up and was active in the Nazarene church. He entered the early enlistment program in his junior year at St. Maries High School. He met his future wife, Rikki Duke, there. After graduation Steve spent the summer fighting forest fires for the Idaho Department of Lands before joining the Army in October 2001. Steve married Rikki in May 2002. He was trained as a firefighter and was deployed to Iraq in 2003, and 2005. In 2007 and 2014, Steve served at Goodfellow Air Force Base as an instructor at the firefighter academy. On Oct. 11, 2006, Steve and Rikki became the proud parents to Trevor Joel Burpee. Steve loved the Army, his men and his family. Steve is survived by his wife and son of San Angelo, Texas; his parents of Pocatello, Idaho; and his brother, Allan Burpee, of Juba, South Sudan.