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Master Gunnery Sergeant Steven D. Long Sr. was a 30 year retired Marine, a Gulf War veteran, a jet and helicopter mechanic, father of 3 children (Steven D. Long Jr., Brandon Kenjiro Long, and Keiko Pearl Long), husband to three different wives: Patricia (12 years), Christi (17.5 years), and Paula (3.5 years), and son to Gary Phillip Long (deceased 1986) and Yukie Long of Jacksonville, Florida. He was brother to two sisters, Sheryl and Wendy. He was uncle to four nieces (three living) and one nephew. Steve's father Gary Long was also a 30 year Navy veteran, jet mechanic, and Vietnam Veteran that hailed from an Irish family in the State of Washington. Yukie Long was Japanese, of the Ito clan, a large Samurai and police family lineage from Tokyo, Japan who survived the hardships of World War II in Saipan with her family. Steven Long Sr. did not have any grandchildren born to him at the time of his death in 2015; his funeral program references step-grandchildren and step-children only. He was born in Zushi City, Japan and passed away in Pensacola, Florida. He was a gifted aircraft mechanic, retired at the time of his death, had endured knee replacements, and was living in Milton, Florida with his third wife, his widow now. I have included some snippets from his Facebook accounts and his funeral program, as well as his career photos, photos with his two youngest children, and his second wife, my mother. We will miss my father and the things I remember most about him were the fun he was to play with when I was a child, the voices he could mimic, the cartoons and artwork he could sketch, his raucous laughter, his easy way with strangers and making friends, his willingness to help others, his sense of humour, and his love of models and detail work as he watched history and war programs on cable. He also loved...the U.S. Marine Corps. Rest in peace, Nikki-san. We honor your memory here and always.
