Celebrating the Life of Steve Tamayo

Steve Tamayo was born as the 9th of 13 children in Cheyenne, Wyoming on August 3, 1951 to Joseph and Angela Landeros-Tamayo. 

Steve’s father was a railroad man. Steve’s fondest memories were growing up with all his brothers and sisters in a train car bought from the railroad for 500 dollars. (His dad built a lean-to to extend the home). Steve would tell stories about his father’s work on the railroad and traveling to pick fruit on farms in the summer. The train car his dad bought has actually been restored as a famous car of that time and is in a museum.  

Steve started his college years at the University of Wyoming. In his second year he met Susan Star who introduced him to Unification principles in 1977. Soon after joining the church he went to the Mobile Fundraising Team and worked in the Texas region for a year or so and then was invited to New York to work with the Spanish newspaper, Noticias del Mundo, where he worked until he chose to be matched to Jerry Tamayo in 1982. 

He joined IOWC (International One-World Crusade) for a short time in 1983 until he was admitted to the Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) in Barrytown, NY in 1984. 

In 1987, Lewis and Marielle Pearlman offered a child to the Tamayo family. Sung Min was born on September 16, 1988. This began a new life for the Tamayo family. Side note, Sung Min is the only 3rd generation male that carries on the Tamayo name. 

Steve went on to finish his Bachelor’s at Regis College in 1986 and graduated with a Master’s of Religious Education from UTS in 1989.

That same year Rev. Moon picked seven new state leaders, and one was Steve. He was sent to Kansas where he stayed for four years before being transferred to his hometown in Cheyenne, WY where he was state leader until 1994. Soon after, Steve and Jerry applied to be dorm parents for GOP (General Orientation Program) for blessed children in Korea. 

As dorm parents, Steve and his wife took care of the daily lifestyle of the children. He also taught and kept the children abreast on their English subjects for the next 8 years. 

Steve and Jerry returned to America in 2002 where Steve taught music at a charter school for a year to all grade levels: Kindergarten to eighth grade. Steve loved music; he bought his first guitar at a thrift store for $3! He learned and played classical guitar. 

In 2003, Steve and Jerry opened an ad hoc homeschool program for blessed children which lasted until 2014. During those 11 years they traveled to quite a few places across America setting up school and taking in young people from around the world. Steve had many vocations during those 11 years and enjoyed his work both with the Blessed Teens Academy (BTA) and his company jobs. Many of the children remember Steve as a kind and generous spirit; humble, intelligent, patient, fatherly figure. 

The last five and a half years Steve focused on his family, remaining in Aurora, CO where his son, daughter in-law, and three grandchildren live. 

Steve had a deep love for God, Jesus Christ, and True Parents. He often would say how he felt the grace of God in his life many times over. Recently, when he became ill, his son asked him, “Dad, how are you feeling?” and he said, “Son, in my youth I really felt I was going to die young. I believed I would die before I was forty. I feel the grace of God having been able to live these past 30 years and grateful to have raised my family.”

Steve died peacefully in his sleep after having suffered several months with esophageal cancer. Steve was a man of great diplomacy and grace. He never complained and never blamed, always allowing each person in his presence to be who they were however they were. Anyone who knew Steve Tamayo would say that his heart was deep like an ocean and calm like a sea. 

He is survived by his wife Jerry Tamayo and son, Sung Min Tamayo, daughter-in-law Tami Tamayo,and grandchildren Elijah, Kaelen, and Khora. He is also survived by his siblings Ramona, Helen, Dalores, Maria, Teresa, Josephine, Juan, Antonio, Tomas.