Coach dies; parish, team had rallied around him in his cancer battle

Published: 2006-01-27

ST. LOUIS (CNS) -- A youth soccer coach who received an outpouring of support from his parish and team during his battle with cancer died Jan. 18. A funeral Mass was celebrated Jan. 21 at Ascension Church in Chesterfield, Mo., for Steve Ostermueller, a technical-business analyst for a financial services software company. Ostermueller, 42, had been helping coach a soccer team at Ascension since his daughter, Meghan, was in second grade. This past season, the team of seventh-graders showed their support for the coach as he battled health problems. The girls dedicated their season to him and won the Catholic Youth Council's Cadet Division in the playoffs. Others in the parish also showed support for the Ostermueller family through kind acts and through prayer. In an article last December in the St. Louis Review, the archdiocesan newspaper, Ostermueller said his faith had been the real basis of how he dealt with the illness.

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