Paul Sternberger
“Celebration of Life” services for Paul L. Sternberger, 68, the father of former Clinton School Supt. Jason Sternberger, will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Lifeway Church in Kingfisher.
Sternberger died Sept. 4, 2015, after a six-year battle with cancer.
He was born April 9, 1947, in Hardtner, Kan., the son of Robert and Hazel Sternberger. He attended Kiowa Public Schools and graduated in 1965. After high school, Paul attended Kansas State for a semester and later went to Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford, where he graduated with an education degree in 1969.
He married Faye Jenkinson and they had two children, Jason Robert and Julie Renae Sternberger.
His first coaching job was in Clinton as an assistant football and track coach. In 1973, Paul accepted his first head coaching job at Blanchard where he stayed for three years. During his tenure at Blanchard, he was selected as the Little All-City coach of the Year. After that, he accepted the same position at Tecumseh for two years and then went on to Elk City for one year.
In 1980, he got out of education and pursued different business opportunities that eventually led him to be a regional sales manager for a school furniture company before his retirement.
In 2009, he married Lia Turner and they made their home in Trophy Club, Texas. They enjoyed traveling to Kingfisher and bought a house there in 2013 to be near his son and grandsons. He also enjoyed his “NITWIT” golfing group and other golfing buddies. He and his wife traveled the United States to be with them and play his favorite courses.
While he was in college, he began officiating basketball as a hobby to help support his family. This turned into a career which eventually led him to officiate in the Big 8, Southwest, Missouri Valley and Western Athletic Conferences for 17 years. He officiated 787 Division I games.
He is survived by his wife, Lia Sternberger; his son, Jason Sternberger and his wife, Jackie, of Kingfisher; his daughter, Julie Renae of Ada; three grandsons, Jace Evan, Jett William and Jaxon Paul Sternberger; and four step-children, Tiffany Dailey and her husband, Jason, of Austin, Texas, Ashley Turner of Austin, Hunter Turner of Austin, and Austin Turner of Lubbock, Texas.
The family asks that in lieu of flowers, memorials be made to the cancer research department at MD Anderson, Development Office Unit 705, P.O. Box 301439 Houston, TX. 77230-1439.