The Philosopher\u2019s Stone<\/a> on Newport Avenue, was Krueger\u2019s long-time friend and tenant. She spearheaded the effort, working with the city, to create a lasting memorial in his memory.<\/p>\n\u201cHe was taken from us too soon,\u201d said Adelstein, talking about the immediate aftermath of the news of Krueger\u2019s death. \u201cWe were processing the event, and the grief and disbelief, and I thought, \u2018Wouldn\u2019t it be great to have a tribute for Steve here in OB? Maybe he could always have a place here.\u2019 That was the goal \u2013 and the momentum \u2013 to get the project rolling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adelstein approached the San Diego River Park Foundation, a non-profit public-benefit corporation aiming to create a continuous green belt along the 52-mile-long San Diego River, about making a memorial bench donation.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut (the foundation) didn\u2019t have a place on the river here, so they got in contact with Parks and Rec and that\u2019s how we got the ball rolling on this four-year project,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s starting to bring back memories,\u201d she added. \u201cI just remember what a great guy Steve was. He was always there for me and others (tenants) on the property that needed him. I\u2019m glad to be able to do this for his family. I wanted to make sure this memorial would be able to give back to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adelstein spoke to Krueger the night before his tragic death when he was, characteristically, doing her a favor, taking out her trash. \u201cIt was mundane,\u201d she said of their conversation. \u201cI didn\u2019t think I wasn\u2019t going to see him the next day \u2013 or forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about Krueger\u2019s memorial plaque inscription that reads \u201cForever in Ocean Beach,\u201d Adelstein said: \u201cI wanted him to have a place here always. This way, people will be able to come sit and remember him, and his spirit will always be in Ocean Beach.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others spoke of his love for sweets. <\/p>\n
\u201cSteve had a wicked sweet tooth; it was out of control,\u201d said Jeff Krueger during his eulogy. \u201cI don\u2019t know how he stayed so skinny all of his life. Ice cream was his Achilles\u2019 heel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of Adelstein, Jeff Krueger said: \u201cThis is all Wendy\u2019s dream, her idea. She\u2019s the one who dealt with the city and the state. It took about 3 \u00bd years, and this (memorial) was actually put in last week. It came out really well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe lost Steve four years ago, and to this day, people are still remembering him,\u201d added Jeff Krueger. \u201cIt means a lot. My family and I come down every year at this time, and we make this a tradition. Everybody still remembers Steve. He was a great guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSteve would love that he was able to give back to the community like this and provide benches along with this memorial so that people could enjoy the beautiful estuary, which is in Ocean Beach,\u201d said Adelstein.<\/p>\n
Steven Krueger was 61 years old when a small plane crashed<\/a> into his UPS delivery truck while he was making deliveries\u00a0in Santee on Oct.11, 2021.\u00a0The plane\u2019s pilot, who had lost consciousness, also died in the crash, which destroyed two homes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\nREAD NEXT\n\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OCEAN BEACH \u2013 A stone with a plaque and benches memorializing Steven Krueger was dedicated along the bike…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[3101,4888,4889,74,76,75,4890,4891,4892,4893],"class_list":["post-4082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-ocean-beach","tag-plane-crash","tag-robb-field-skate-park","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-san-diego-river-park-foundation","tag-santee","tag-steven-krueger","tag-ups"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}