Dr. Gail C. Steiner
May 5, 1903-Feb. 19, 1984
Niles Daily Star (Niles, Michigan), Monday, February 20, 1984, page 1
NILES—Long-time Niles doctor, Gail C. Steiner, 80, died Sunday at 5:50 p.m. at Memorial Hospital in South Bend after an extended illness.
Dr. Steiner practiced medicine in Niles and South Beand[sic] for the last 53 years and was on the staffs of Pawating Hospital here and the South Bend Ostopathic[sic] Hospital.
The doctor was still seeing 10 to 12 patients each week and said in an interview in May of 1983 that he did not want to retire. “Hitting a golf ball and then trying to find it, “ said Steiner, was not for him.
He was born May 5, 1903 in Buchanan and lived his lifetime in the area.
Dr. Steiner was active in the Niles community. He served as president of the Niles Community School Board in 1950 and was a member of the Brandywine School Board for 15 years. He was a former President and past president of the Niles Lions club and was a life member of the Niles Shrine Club and the Niles Elks Club. He was a life member of the National Osteopathic Association. He was also a member of the Saladin Temple of Grand Rapids and Wesley United Methodist Church.
Dr. Steiner broke new ground in the local medical field when he was appointed to the Pawating Hospital board of directors in 1959. At the time the board was “purely medical” and he was the first osteopath on the board.
In the May 1983 interview, Dr. Steiner said he missed making house calls. “I made house calls for 30 years, even delivered babies right in the house. And up until 14 years ago, when the practice was stopped, I had a steady clientele from Dowagiac, Edwardsburg and South Bend.”
Dr. Steiner graduated from South Bend High School in 1922 and attended the Kansas City College of Osteopathy and Surgery. He met his wife Helen in Kansas City and marriedd[sic] on Aug. 29, 1929 in Atchinson, Kansas. She survives.
Also surviving are: two sons, Charles L. Steiner of Ann Arbor and Timothy Gail Steiner of Biloxi, Miss.; a daughter, Mrs. Marcia Cousins of Niles; a sister Miss Sylvia Steiner of South Bend; and four grandchildren.
Services will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Wesley United Methodist Church. Rev. Mark D. Graham of that church will officiate. Burial will follow at Silverbrook Cemetery.
There will be no visitation. Arrangements are being made by the Halbritter Funeral Home. Memorials may be given to the Berrien County Cancer Service or the Wesley United Methodist Church Memorial Fund.