You’d find him behind the bar

Elia Powers

Even in his final years, Milton Steller liked to serve.

Even at events thrown in his honor, Steller felt most comfortable

behind the bar.

He would throw on his black bartending vest, pin a name tag near

his tie and whip up his signature Silver Fizz drink -- made of egg

whites, lemonade and vodka.

“He loved being back there,” said his wife of 69 years, Marcelle

Steller. “It was his place.”

Steller, who lived in Costa Mesa, died Jan. 8 of natural causes.

He was 90.

Born in New York in 1914, Steller came to Southern California in

1935. That spring, he met Marcelle at the popular Newport Beach

hangout Rendezvous Ballroom.

The two were married a year later.

Steller learned his way around Newport Beach as an Arden Farms

milkman. He serviced many of the beach communities and entered the

homes of prominent Orange County residents.

“Back then, the milkman had keys to people’s houses,” Marcelle

Steller said. “People trusted him to take the milk and put it right

in the refrigerator.”

She said her husband never bragged about the people he met on the

job. And in his next career move, managing the locker rooms at the

Santa Ana Country Club, Steller reportedly had regular conversations

with Richard Nixon.

Steller became bar manager at the original Ruben’s restaurant in

Newport Beach and then filled the same position at Revere House in

Tustin.

“He loved talking to people, loved being in the social scene,”

said his daughter, Linda Andersen, a Newport Harbor High School

graduate who lives in Australia.

Steller was active in the United States Bartenders Guild and was a

50-year member of the Seafaring Lodge.

Throughout his life he enjoyed gambling. As a gift for his 90th

birthday last spring, male members of his family took him on a

surprise trip to Las Vegas, where they stayed at the New York-New

York Hotel and Casino to honor his childhood home.

Steller is also survived by his son, Marshall Steller of San Jose,

and five grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.

The family held a “celebration of life” on Jan. 15 to remember

Steller.

Donations can be made in his honor to the Heart Institute or

Cancer Center at Hoag Memorial Hospital in Newport Beach.