WARSAW — Up until the first of June, Greg Steffe was retired. Now he’s begun his second career as co-director of the Kosciusko County Old Jail Museum.

Steffe was born and raised in Warsaw and after two years at Indiana Central College, now University of Indianapolis, he returned home where he has resided ever since. He worked at Biomet for 29 years.

Steffe, along with Evelyn Rake, took over the co-director position after long time director, Sally Hogan, took on a new position with the historical society.

Steffe has always had a love of history. “I grew up in a historic home in Warsaw. I was obsessed with the history of the house and family who built it — Hudson Beck the founder of Lake City Bank. I’ve always loved history,” he said. It also appears to run in the family as his family, along with himself and his brother Kevin, are charter members of the historical society. While he hasn’t been active in the historical society, that changed 1 ½ years ago when he became more involved.

It was Steffe who started the Spirit of Warsaw Ghost Tours as well as at Winona Lake. “I love doing research, history and the paranormal,” he said. To make the tours a learning experience he adds a “healthy dose of history.”

He is charged, as co-director, with the day to day operations of the museum. While he feels this position is a great thing, “There’s no way I can fill her (Hogan) shoes. I just hope to keep the ship upright and headed in the same direction. It’s the ladies who should get all the credit. I’m just here to help where I can.

“I see this as an opportunity to give back to the community that has been so good to my family and me over the years.”

Steffe has been active in the community for a number of years. He served on the Kosciusko County Fair Board for seven years and as a fair volunteer for 21 years. It was Steffe who created Soul Takers, the haunted house at the fairgrounds and operated it for the first five years. He raced sprint cars at the fairgrounds for seven years and coached hockey in Fort Wayne for 10. He enjoys hunting and shooting, is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association and was a shotgun instructor for the county 4-H Shooting Sports Club for several years. “The Lord has blessed me with an interesting and diverse life,” he said.

When he’s not mowing his own large lawn and that of his son’s, he helps others in the family with their mowing and spending time with his grandson, who he recently took fishing for the first time. But he also enjoys model building. It started with model cars, but at the age of 12 and a trip to Florida, he became fascinated with circus model building. He has an HO scale model of a typical Midwest county fair.

Steffe and his wife, Jackie, have been married for 37 years and are the parents of twins: Kyle and Kacee. They have three grandchildren with a fourth grandchild on the way.