Steven Lewis McKay

Steven "Manu Forti" McKay

Born 11/11/1956-06/22/2023 was 66 years old. It was early Thursday morning while in the hospital at Pikes Peak Regional in Woodland Park, Colorado where he received the most excellent care. He crossed over around 3:30 am in his sleep of natural causes. He is survived by his best friend and previous wife Valerie (Lynna) LePage, previous stepdaughter Ashley Ashman, and his other best friend Aaron LePage. He has one aunt and uncle still living out of state, Sheila and Bud Mason. His older brother and parents are deceased.

Things to know…He was the kindest soul you could have ever met. I met him in late 1997. We worked at Hobby Lobby together then we decided jobs closer to home would be better. He worked at the Animal Shelter in Divide, Colorado, the Court House in Cripple Creek, Colorado, but his all-time passion was puppeteering…building stages and doing shows for the Teller County community. He could sing, play the guitar and he was a real artist when it came to drawing. Every year he would draw and write poems on the inside of his Christmas cards. The pictures were always indigenous to the happenings of the year.

He was also a Scotsman. A Highlander to be sure. Original spelling MacKay. His father John McKay who worked at the historical society in Woodland Park, Colorado for a time, traced their direct ancestors to the Battle of Culloden in Scotland. I supposed a lot of us can.

We had a platonic marriage for the sake of my daughter Ashley. When I met my current husband Aaron, and Ashley was starting middle school, we dissolved the marriage. Which was our original agreement. He even helped us plan our wedding. That was just who he was. Full of gentle quietness and kindness. He would literally do anything for anyone, especially those in need.

This is a great loss to the community and the world. The family is greatly saddened and will be mourning for some time.

 There is not going to be any funeral or memorial per say. He wanted something extremely simple and quiet---as was his way. His ashes will be taken to a special place in the forest by his surviving family, where we used to hike and picnic.

Contributions are being accepted by the family. Send to or email…

Valerie LePage
1559 Willshire Drive
Colorado Springs, Colorado   80906
Danudesigns3@gmail.com

The family would like to thank all of the Doctors, Nurses, Techs, at Pikes Peak Regional Hospital for all their hard work and great care and concern for Steve. We could not have asked for better staff.

Thank you to all the case managers and social workers who helped us keep it together during this most difficult time.

Thank you to Mountain Memorial Funeral Home for helping us plan everything so quickly and easily.  

His favorite quotes…

“Life’s like a movie, write your own ending. Keep believing, keep pretending.” Jim Henson

“The most sophisticated people I know – inside are all children.” Jim Henson

“My hope still is to leave the world a bit better than when I got here.” Jim Henson

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