Steve Sobonya, The Unofficial Mayor of Marysville MT has passed. Originally, that\u2019s all Steve wanted us to put in the paper\u2026.But for us to properly honor such a legacy, we only feel it appropriate to tell you a little bit about him:<\/p>\n
Steve had a humble upbringing. Born in Ambridge, PA on June 27, 1940 to a hardworking coal miner father and his mother Mary, a homemaker. Mary married his father Stephen at the age13 and started having children by age 14. Still a child herself, Mary was a stern loving mother to Robert (Bob), Jean and then lastly Steve.<\/p>\n
If you know Steve Sobonya, the first thing you would know is that he was Bobcat first and foremost. He had such a devotion of love for the game and ended up getting a full ride scholarship to Montana State University to play ball. At the age of 18, he packed up what he could with only a couple dollars that his parents could afford and proceeded to hitch hike his way across America in order to play the game he loved. Nothing ever got in his way.<\/p>\n
He always said, \u201cBobcat Born, Bobcat Bred, Be a Bobcat Till Im Dead\u201d. And he definitely lived up to it. Coach Sweeny would always say \u201c#65 was the toughest SOB to ever play for him\u201d, playing both sides of the ball as a guard and linebacker from 1959 \u2013 1962. He was only 5\u201d8\u201d and weighed 165 lbs. And if you know football, you will know that guys in these positions are usually giants.<\/p>\n
While going to school in Bozeman, Steve met and married his first wife CeBe and went on to have 3 wonderful, amazing boys, James \u201cJimmy\u201d, Stephen Jr. and then Christopher. They each grew up following in their dads\u2019 footsteps with their love of sports with two eventually landing in jobs r\/t personal coaching. The other would eventually go on to fall in love with Dad\u2019s second love of the food industry. After several years, Steve and CeBe parted ways and this was when Steve started to seek out his second love in the culinary arts.<\/p>\n
Steve went on to open and operate several food\/drink establishments in Bozeman, Great Falls and Helena. The Underground Bar, The Overland, and the Baucus Pub in Bozeman, and the Bakery in Helena. The last one he established was The Marysville House. During this time, Steve met and married his second wife Vanessa Sobonya, who welcomed two additional children to the family, David and Carrie. Together, with only an idea and a dream, they went on to create one of the most well-known steak houses in Montana, let alone, across the world. And he accomplished all of this by word of mouth. He never advertised. And if you talk with someone today in Montana and ask about the restaurant, chances are they know all about it and had nothing but wonderful things to say about the food, the help and Steves\u2019 way of making you feel like you were a lifelong friend. He never knew a stranger. He had a dream of creating a environment where people could come together and create memories that thousands will always remember, nestled right in the small town of Marysville, MT. This is where he and Vanessa remained until both of their passings, she in 2017 and he on April 26th<\/sup>, 2026. Their love was truly one of a kind that you only usually see once in a lifetime.<\/p>\n Steve was proceeded in death by Vanessa \u201cVinnie\u201d Sobonya, his parents, Steve and Mary Sobonya, as well as his son, Steve Jr. He is survived by his brother, Robert (Joanie) Sobonya, and sister Jean (Lou) Gerlovich, son, Jim (Michelle) and grandsons, Chris and James \u201cJimmy\u201d Jr.; son Chris (Marsha) and grandsons Angelo, Arrow and Tritan and granddaughter McCarthy (Will) Oates; son David; and daughter Carrie (granddaughter Savannah, and grandson Gauge); granddaughter Jordan (Kellen) Beck, granddaughter Hanna, grandson Stephen, and granddaughter Genevieve.\u00a0 He also had four great grandchildren, Ivy Sobonya, Millie and Vaughn Beck, and Azalea Oates.<\/p>\n Celebration of Life Services to be held on Sunday, May 3, 2026 at 4 pm. It will start at the Marysville House with a toast to honor Steve, followed by the celebration at his personal residence at 346 Grand Street in Marysville. We will have live music, a good bon fire, Courvoisier and\u2026 its a potluck! We will provide the meat, mushrooms and beans, but please feel free to bring a side dish or your favorite alcohol to celebrate the local legend! We would also like to extent our gratitude to our bonus family! This includes Mayrene Kottas, his special \u201cBird Lady of Marysville\u201d as well as the friends that became his Marysville family these past couple of years. Words cannot express how fortunate we are to have had you all in our fathers\u2019 lives. He was eternally grateful for all of your selflessness in taking care of him.<\/p>\n Lastly, Steve would also say Happy Trails and never Goodbye. Lets all get together to celebrate with him one more time. You know that he will be there in spirit sitting in his regular spot on his front porch of his house enjoying all of your company and talking about good times past.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","photo":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Sobonya-Steve2a.jpg","youtube_video_url":"","service_status":"public","event_title1":"Celebration of Life","event_date1":"2026-05-03","start_time1":"4:00 p.m.","end_time1":"","location1":"Marysville House","address1":"153 Main Street","city1":"Marysvile","state1":"MT","zipcode1":"59640","event_title2":"Potluck Reception","event_date2":"2026-05-03","start_time2":"Following the Toast at Marysville House","end_time2":"","location2":"","address2":"346 Grand Street","city2":"Marysville","state2":"Montana","zipcode2":"59640","event_title3":"","event_date3":"","start_time3":"","end_time3":"","location3":"","address3":"","city3":"","state3":"","zipcode3":"","event_title4":"","event_date4":"","start_time4":"","end_time4":"","location4":"","address4":"","city4":"","state4":"","zipcode4":"","event_title5":"","event_date5":"","start_time5":"","end_time5":"","location5":"","address5":"","city5":"","state5":"","zipcode5":"","event_title6":"","event_date":"","start_time6":"","end_time6":"","location6":"","address6":"","city6":"","state6":"","zipcode6":"","event_title7":"","event_date7":"","start_time7":"","end_time7":"","location7":"","address7":"","city7":"","state7":"","zipcode7":"","event_title8":"","event_date8":"","start_time8":"","end_time8":"","location8":"","address8":"","city8":"","state8":"","zipcode8":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case\/33146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/case"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}