By Nicole Hamilton
The Cincinnati Enquirer

MARIEMONT - Doris Deck Van Steenberg, who worked for the American Red Cross during World War II and later ran summer drama workshops in Cincinnati, died May 22 at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Mass. The longtime Mariemont resident, who moved to Wayland, Mass., in 1989, was 97.

"She was somebody who was very intellectually curious. She was incredibly well-read. And she was somebody who really wanted to be useful, busy and doing things. She was constantly volunteering for things," said her daughter, Vicki LaFarge of Wayland, Mass.

Her Red Cross unit eventually was sent to Casablanca, Morocco, and followed the Allied advance in Italy to Rome and Bologna.

She worked in the European front until V-E Day. And then, after two weeks back in the United States, she was sent to Guam and Tokyo, where she met her future husband, William Wright Van Steenberg.

After the war, the two moved back to Cincinnati, where she led summer drama workshops for children.

Mrs. Van Steenberg also started the adult education program for the Mariemont School district.

She was a volunteer for the Salvation Army auxiliary and the Cincinnati Gospel Mission.

Mrs. Van Steenberg graduated from New Vienna High School in 1925, and then moved to Cincinnati, where she studied drama at Schuster Martin Academy and then worked as an executive secretary at University of Cincinnati's Teacher's College.

After her husband died in 1971, she traveled to such places as Russia, Israel and China.

Besides her daughter, survivors include two grandchildren.

A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. June 19 at the Unitarian Church in Wayland, Mass.

Her body was donated to Harvard Medical School.

Memorials can be made to the Wayland Historical Society, 12 Cochituate Road, Wayland, MA 01778.

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E-mail nhamilton@enquirer.com