Stephen Poche’

Stephen Poche' (1940 - 2018)

Stephen S. Poche' passed away peacefully at his home on Jan. 16, 2018. He was born on June 21, 1940 in San Mateo, California to Marcel and Marie Poche'. He is survived by his great wife of 53 years, Brenda "Penny" Poche', brother, Marc Poche' (Joan), his son Stephen M. Poche', daughters Andrea P. Constantine (Robert) and Lauren P. Clark (Christopher), grandchildren Remy Poche', Michael Constantine, Madelyn Constantine, Morgan Clark, Xander Poche', Bennett Clark (coming soon), fur babies Oskar and Winston, and many relatives.

In 1958, he graduated from Loyola High School in Los Angeles. From there, he attended Loyola Marymount University, graduating in 1962. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a 2nd LT. in USAF. He married the love of his life on April 11, 1964. He served as a missile combat crew commander at Hahn AFB in Germany from 1963 to 1966. In 1967, he completed training and became an air intelligence officer assigned to the Tactical Air Warfare Center at Eglin AFB. From 1967 to 1968, he was deployed overseas to project Rivettop where he flew on numerous combat missions over all sorts of interesting places.

While overseas, he was exposed to Agent Orange which caused chronic heart problems and subsequent death. Steve was once again assigned to the Tactical Air Warfare Center at Eglin AFB from 1968 to 1970. In 1970, he left active duty to attend Florida State University (Go Noles!) Law School, graduating in 1973. After law school, he became an assistant state attorney in Okaloosa County Florida from 1975 to 1978. During this time, he also served as a Staff Judge Advocate (JAG) assigned to Tyndall AFB from 1973 to 1975 as a reservist. He also served as a JAG with 919th Special Operations Group at Duke Field in Florida from 1975 to 1985. In 1985, he retired from the reserves as a LT. Colonel.

Since 1985, he was a board certified marital and family law attorney. In 1985, he was named by the Okaloosa-Walton County Bar Association as the Outstanding Lawyer of the Year presented by Judge Robert Barron. Together with best friend Henry Courtney, he tried and won a series of precedent setting tort cases, including the first local million-dollar jury award as well as several other landmark cases. Steve was blessed with a series of excellent partners, associates, court reporters, bailiffs, and long-suffering secretaries. He was equally blessed by having the honor of appearing before the finest group of judges in the entire state (OK, maybe with one exception). He considered himself a fairly good lawyer and very proudly, a poor businessman. He was always a sucker for a hard luck story, driving his partners crazy with all the pro bono cases he accepted. He was active in the Mental Health Association and Veteran's programs.

He was kept alive all these years by a number of terrific doctors, including Gerald Belue, Ken Haskin, Juan Zarate, Henry Longhorne, Doctor A.J., and "Katz". His best pals included Henry Courtney, Mike Gates, Mike Tenzycki, Pete Gunn, Jere Tolton, Joe Moore, Paul Abram, Dana Snyder and others too numerous to mention.

Steve was a world traveler, subjecting his children to many shenanigans. He was a great story teller, regaling memories of his past and loved a good joke. He loved nothing better than to sip a glass of paisano, sit on his dock with his dogs, and take his family on the pontoon boat. His favorite axiom was "You can trust me, I'm a lawyer" - it always got a good laugh. Other favorite sayings included "I'm just a poor country lawyer" and "It's five o'clock somewhere". He died an unrepentant liberal swimming in a sea of rabid conservatives.

In lieu of flowers, go to the Cheers Bar, say hello to Jeb, have a cold beer and make a nice donation to PAWS or some other worthy cause that could use the money. A celebration of life will be Feb. 25, 2018 with locale to be announced.