Donald Steven “Steve” Cline 71, left this earthly realm for his greatest adventure of all on Friday, April 18th at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington. A celebration of life for Steve will be held in Vernonia, Oregon at a later date. Steve was born on April 26th, 1953 at Hospital American in Paris, France to Donald Cline and Beverly Cline (née Brady). Steve’s father was in the Air Force and this afforded the family the luxury of experiencing a host of countries, cultures, and experiences. Maybe if Steve had been born somewhere more mundane, his lust for life and need to see and do it all wouldn’t have been so strong. But as it stands, he came into this world with adventure in his blood. Through his father’s service he lived in Paris, France, Mt. Home Idaho, Madrid, Burma, a stint in his parent’s hometown of Vernonia with his grandparents where he was Smokey the Bear in the local Logging Jamboree, and Tacoma, Washington. After graduating from Clover Park High School in 1972, he lived in various parts of Oregon, the Bay Area, only God and the police knew where he was in South America and what he was doing, San Antonio and Arlington, Texas, and then eventually settling back in Tacoma for the remainder of his life. Steve had various careers, some above board - working for GTE - some not so much. But his life was made for living big and not something as ordinary as work. While his family was stationed in Madrid as a child, Steve infamously almost burnt down Ava Gardener’s mansion after setting a hill on fire after playing with matches. He became fluent in Spanish and being a rascal. While in Burma, with his parents away in Rangoon, the house staff decided to take Steve with them on a jungle hunt. While on said hunt, a King Cobra was approaching their camp and Steve decided to take matters into his own hands and, after some mishits, took down the mighty Cobra. His mother also told the story of how she found he and his sister Julie playing with a Viper that had unfortunately made its way near them - they had tweezers out and were trying to inspect his fangs. His mother almost had a heart attack, the Viper lived on after his dental appointment, and Steve at this point already had an arsenal of material for his notoriously tall tales. And they only became taller from there. You couldn’t get through a conversation with him without hearing about some experience, some true, some artfully embellished. Everyone he met knows about the Cobra, and swimming with the sleeping sharks, and narrowly avoiding some sort of catastrophe. The only thing Steve loved more than telling the tallest of tales was animals. He loved all of God’s creatures (aside from Cobras), and throughout his life took in all types of critters. He had a chipmunk named Wart, Grunt Cakes (known as Gruntsy to his friends) an unfortunate looking cat with a big heart, a Pug named Buffy, Rhino the cat, Cole the dog, His beloved Ralphie, a teddy bear masquerading as a chow, and a chameleon as a child that met a frosty end after Steve mistakenly gave it some ice cream as a treat. Though his final years were not what anyone wanted for him, he continued to share his stories and friendship with anyone who happened to cross his path. It’s no surprise that after he passed, it was found that he had a penchant for the written word. Not some epic about his adventures in Mexico, but poetry. Eloquent, heartbreaking, and from the soul, poems about his life. Steve was wildly intelligent, always the funniest person in the room, too stubborn to learn from his mistakes, and a friend to many. He is survived by his daughter, Morgan Cline and fiancé Devin Hocamp of Paris, Texas. His nieces, Jennifer Klepach of Fircrest, Washington and Sarah Cradit and husband James of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. His great-nieces and nephews, Christian Klepach, Julian Klepach, Anna Klepach, and Elizabeth Sanchez. His aunt Mary Ann Cline of Forest Grove, Oregon. His uncles Dane Brady of Fircrest, Washington and Jim Brady of Portland, Oregon. Numerous Cline, Brady and Bergerson cousins, as well as so many friends from all corners of the world. He was preceded in death by his father, Donald Cline, his mother, Beverly Cline, and his sister Julie Klepach. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to The Tacoma Rescue Mission. https://www.trm.org/