Funeral For Homeless Veteran Set For Tuesday; No Relatives Found For Stephen Carl Reiman
A service for a homeless Navy veteran who died last week in Casper will be conducted at the Oregon Trail State Veterans Cemetery in Evansville [MAP] at 10:00 AM Tuesday November 29th, according to the Natrona County Coroner's office.
Stephen Carl Reiman, 63, died homeless and indigent at the Wyoming Medical Center on Nov. 17, Coroner Connie Jacobson said in a news release.
Efforts to locate any relatives proved unsuccessful, Jacobson said.
Her office conducted a widespread investigation of the western United States and learned Reiman probably spent the majority of his life in southern California in the area of Long Beach, Los Angeles and San Diego, she said. "Although we continue to seek any leads regarding whereabouts of any family, an exhaustive search has proven to be unsuccessful."
He left Long Beach on a Greyhound Bus early Nov. 6 and arrived at his anticipated destination of Sheridan late Nov. 8.
His belongings included documents from the U.S. Veterans Administration that included a motel reservation when he arrived.
"Even though Stephen is well embedded with the VA system in California, he had not had a chance to become established on that same level here in Wyoming," she said.
He was taken to the Memorial Hospital in Sheridan because of acute illness, and transferred to the Wyoming Medical Center on Nov. 13. He died on Nov. 17 of natural causes, Jacobson wrote.
"Through documentation we also know that Stephen was trained as a chef-proven by the many recipes and cooking websites saved on his laptop. It was very apparent that he loved Bruce Springsteen. A book of the biography of Springsteen and many of Springsteen’s albums were in his backpack along with his iPod."
He suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and alcoholism after his only son was killed in combat in Iraq, Jacobson wrote.
His life took a downward turn after that when he deteriorated emotionally, was not able to maintain a job, lost all finances and ability to pay for housing, she wrote. "Stephen depended on services that the VA offered him, including medical care."