Steve Weisert’s family remembers the engineer, father and funny guy killed in FedEx shooting

ZIONSVILLE, Ind. (WISH) — At 74 years old, Steve Weisert had already retired once after a decadeslong career as an engineer.

His family says he was planning on retiring from FedEx in just six weeks to be able to enjoy time with his wife of almost 50 years.

The Weisert family believes he had just picked up his paycheck after his shift on Thursday night and was walking to his car to head home when he was shot and killed by the gunman.

“This has just changed our whole life forever,” Carol Weisert, Steve’s wife, said.

Steve had been working at FedEx for four and a half years.

“We had plans after retirement. He was going to do some projects, we were going to take some trips. Now that is gone,” Carol said.

Steve and his wife met at the University of Minnesota when she asked him where to find a newspaper. He must have had the right answer because the two married in 1971 while Steve was in the Air Force. They went on to have three children.

“It still doesn’t feel real. It still feels like an extended bad dream that we are going to wake up from,” Mike Weisert, Steve and Carol’s son, said.

Carol says she and her husband would often go on walks around their Zionsville neighborhood. It is small things like that she will miss the most.

“I will just break down at the drop of a hat, she said. “Even seeing those two ladies walk by that I mentioned. They used to see us all walking by. But now it is no longer two; it is only one.”

Steve’s family describes him as a devoted husband and father who was committed to providing for his family. His love for learning meant that while Carol would read biographies and other novels he would read textbooks and would often watch the Science Channel.

“He was certainly generous. He was loyal to a fault,” his wife said.

He was known for his quirky sense of humor and the way he would give everyone and everything a nickname, including himself, whom he called “Cowboy Steve”.

“One heck of a loud, boisterous, funny, goofy laugh and we are going to miss hearing that around here,” Mike said.

His son says Steve insisted on reversing certain words and would never call bands by their actual name.

“Instead of saying let’s watch a movie son, let’s watch a ‘vie-moo,’” said Mike. “My favorite band, Tool, he would call them ‘Socket Wrench’ or he would call Pink Floyd, ‘Red Fred.’”

Now, his family is left wondering why such a bright light was so viciously dimmed.

“They say everybody has a number on their head. Was this the number that was supposed to come up? We are trying to mentally, emotionally figure out what the purpose of this was,” Carol said.