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Taber. I always called him Mr Steve, out of respect for who and
what he was. Mr Steve was a beekeeper and a bee researcher; I
don’t think anyone knew more about bees than he did. He would
share his knowledge too, but he could not abide stupid questions.
So you had to think about it and practice how to phrase it, before
you asked. When you did though, he told you everything you
wanted to know.
One of the first things I wanted to ask him about was that funny
smell in the hive sometimes, like bananas. When I asked him, he
kind of reared back his head and said, “You smelled that? Not
everyone can. It’s the alarm pheromone of the bees and it means
you better get out of that hive now.” Up to that point, I’m not sure
that I was really a person to him, not a bee-person anyway. Just
my husband’s wife who kind of helped him keep bees.
I never took Mr Steve’s queen-rearing class or anything like that.
At the time, I was still working and still a bit nervous around the
bees. But I listened and I learned, both from my husband and from
Mr Steve. We all went to conferences, Mr Steve, my husband Les,
Mr Dewey (Dewey Jowers, another beekeeper friend). I listened
more and took notes. And I read. And I learned some more.
The next question I asked Mr Steve was after I heard the queen
singing. She was marching along the comb, this way and that, and
singing. I was just thrilled. So, knowing now that Mr Steve was a
fountain of information on queens, I told him about the queen
singing. I think he was kind of tickled about my phrasing it that way,
he told me the real name is “piping”. And he told me about why the
queen sings, or pipes, if you are a stickler for proper terminology.
And so it went, over the years. I guess I knew Mr Steve for about
ten years. I think he came home to South Carolina from France
about 1997 or so. It seemed miraculous to me that he would talk to
someone like me. But beekeepers are different; I have talked to
Roger Hoopingarner and Dewey Caron, Jennifer Berry and Ann
Harmon, Jeff Pettis and Dennis VanEnglesdorp, and so many
more. I have learned different things about bees and beekeeping
from all of them, just as I did from Mr Steve.
Mr Steve loved my husband’s smoked chickens; no one smokes
them better than Les. He would make an extra one that I would
freeze and we would take it to him when we went to visit. He also
loved lamb and lamb sausage. I would make up a package for him
and either we took it over or Les would take it, if he went alone. I
started back to school and that took quite a bit of time.
It seemed strange to me that Mr Steve would be interested in what
I was doing for my dissertation, but he would ask me about it when I
came to visit too. I don’t know how much of a stretch it was, my
subject concerned the international honey market. When I finally
finished, he seemed to be tickled again and always greeted me with
“Hello Doctor Blecke!” He even made it sound capitalized. Then
he would revert to calling me Denise again for the rest of the visit.
It brings tears to my eyes to think I’ll never hear either one again
except in my heart.
Mr Steve would poke me every now and then about writing,
something I love to do, albeit not very well. He would just laugh and
say that some of them would publish anything if you just sent them
in enough stuff – keep trying! Now here I am, first book under my
belt (the dissertation) and three others started, only one of which
has anything to do with beekeeping. And the first article I am really
writing is about Mr Steve and isn’t really for publishing I guess.
Louis Taber (Mr Steve's son) sent me a draft of Mr Steve's
obituary and I think Bob Cole is doing the official article about Mr
Steve because they were friends for years. And there will be
notices in all the beekeeping magazines, American Beekeeping
Journal, Bee Culture. This is just kind of for me and will only appear
on the PCBA webpage. I’m the WebWitch there, and I want
something about Mr Steve and his accomplishments on our
website. This little bit is just an introduction about our friendship.
So now, Here’s to you, Mr Steve!
Steve Taber's Obituary
17 April 1924 - 22 May 2008
