Friends, family remember Estep as working toward better life for son

“Oliver & Company,” “Toy Story” and “The Lion King.”

Every day, Jamie Steiner said her boyfriend Timothy Estep, a 21-year-old IU freshman, would watch Disney movies with the couple’s 2-year-old son DeVon.

“He loved being a father,” she said.

Estep was driving north on State Road 37 when he died in a car accident Saturday, IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre said.

Estep, along with Steiner and DeVon, moved to an apartment on the west side of Bloomington in September 2010 from Rochester, Ind., so Estep could study to be a nurse.

“Everybody was so proud that he was going to college, and he was too,” Steiner said. “He really wanted to get into the School of Nursing.”

Estep picked IU because it was a big school with an amazing nursing program, she said, adding that he loved his class about baby health and hated finite math. He also loved making people laugh, she said.

“In class, he would turn to the person next to him and make them laugh, even if he didn’t know them,” Steiner said.

Growing up, Estep and his cousin Jenny Shortz would ride bikes for hours and played games such as Pokemon. Shortz said Estep lived with her and her parents for a while, and she said she loved having him around because it was like having a brother.

Longtime friend Jennifer White-Rollings said she remembered Estep as the first person she met when she moved to Rochester Middle School. He just came up and said hi to her. From there, she said they were best friends, and he came over every day after school to watch movies.

Estep decided to come to IU to make a better life for his family because he knew he needed a college degree, Steiner said.

Estep loved IU and would take DeVon to campus to walk around by the Indiana Memorial Union. The couple would also take their son to the Herman B Wells Library and let him watch movies on their laptop while they were on the desktop computers, Steiner said.

The couple had met before, but they started dating in 2007 when they were co-workers at a Kroger in Kokomo.

“He was very funny and sweet,” Steiner said, adding that after Estep visited the IU Art Museum for a class, Estep took her to show her the art. The couple also went to see “Spring Awakening” together last week.

Estep was also dedicated to his classes, said freshman Amy Kappel, who met Estep in a children’s health class this semester and worked with him in class.

She said Estep would call her to talk about homework and even took a preparation class to help understand finite math. He would text her if he was on campus early and ask if she wanted to get coffee and study together at the IMU.

“He always tried so hard in school, which couldn’t have been easy having a little boy,” Kappel said. But it was clear to her how much he wanted to be a nurse and that he was determined to go to nursing school.

Kappel added it was clear he was proud of his son, and he loved to show off pictures of DeVon. The first time Kappel said she saw a picture of Estep’s blond son was in a picture Estep showed her.

“He carried it in his wallet,” she said.