Stephen Ehlers, 78, of Burbank, California, United States, died peacefully Sunday, August 9, 2020 of natural causes.  

Steve, as his brass belt buckle proudly proclaimed, was born August 5, 1942, raised in Barrett, Minnesota where he played various sports, danced, worked hard on the farm, graduating high school in 1960. He attended Moorhead State University where he graduated with a B.A. in Theater Arts. At MSU he was proud to become a member of the Old Order of Owls fraternity and kept in touch with other members through the years.

After college, Steve married his sweetheart, Jackie Harris, and made his way to Southern California where his two sons were born. He was named Art Director and taught Scenic Design in the Theatre Arts Department at California State University Fullerton.  He left academia to work in the Hollywood entertainment industry as a scenic artist and was soon promoted to Art Director. He worked at NBC, E.J. Krause & Associates with his life-long friend, Rene Lagler, Sid & Marty Croft, Disney on Parade and numerous television productions including The Supremes’ groundbreaking, “TCB—Taking Care of Business” special. He worked with legendary talents including Bob Hope, Danny Kaye and on location in Hawaii with Don Ho.

Just as his career was taking off in 1973, he lost his sight in a tragic gun accident. It took Steve about a year to recover and readjust to a dark world that required all of his imagination every minute of every day to persevere and succeed again.

Powered by the love and nurturing of many dedicated friends, colleagues, family and his inherent self-confidence, the world slowly became beautiful, filled with joy, love and most of all, light. Steve learned how to live independently, play guitar, read and write Braille, and continue to create and love.

Paired with his first of four German Shepard guide dogs, wonderfully named Glee, he walked proudly, head held high, whistling through life while walking around the neighborhood block each day. Rules, airports, public transportation, and blindness rarely stopped his adventures. People were often surprised he was completely blind. When someone was talking to him, he would turn his head and attention to the speaker making his blindness even less apparent.  He soon became a role model and activist for those considered handicapped.

Colors became moods, temperatures, and hues. Steve’s creative spark ignited. He started his first design partnership at Culver City Studios as Ehlers & Evans Design, then after a few years formed  Ehlers Star Galleries which defined much of his life over twenty years. Steve would design, build, machine, program, sing, animate, and install his animatronics shooting galleries around the world. He installed these large scale and unique creations in amusement and theme parts starting with Six Flags Magic Mountain north of Los Angeles. He built others in Georgia, Ohio, Texas, Australia, and Spain. His sense of drama, laughter and fun was and continues to be shared daily with all the people who play the games he conceived and created around the world.

Steve is survived by two sons, John Ehlers (wife Shen Min), of Luxembourg and David Ehlers, Oregon; three grandchildren Sara Ehlers, Colorado, and Colette and Seaton Ehlers, of Luxembourg.  Preceding him in death were ex-wife Cathy Doshas, California; parents Dagny and John O. Ehlers, Minnesota; sisters Joan Banken and Kathy E. Nigro, both of Minnesota and brother Peter Ehlers, of Massachusetts.