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Kyle Richey
Stephen Monson
February 23rd, 2001 - April 14th, 2023
February 23rd, 2001 - April 14th, 2023
Stephen Ryan Monson, age 22, of O’Fallon, Illinois, passed away April 14, 2023. Stephen was born on February 23, 2001. He is the son of Ryan and Jennifer Monson and the older brother to Brandon (21), Julia (19), Justin (15), and Ella (10).
Stephen joined the local swim team when he was 7, which he continued through high school. His nickname was Shark. He really loved his teammates and the challenge of competing together to win. He was super excited to join the robotics team and was known to put in extra effort for the team competitions.
Stephen was an avid learner. He was passionate about physics, chemistry, math, biology, and many other subjects. He was a math wizard, placing 2nd in state for math and 1st for physics. He completed high school very proud of his ACT score of 36, following a severe concussion that lasted more than a year.
After high school he served a Spanish speaking mission in Mexico for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He fell in love with Mexico, the culture, and the kindness of the people. He embraced his calling enthusiastically and his testimony grew. Suffering from two more severe concussions, he finished his mission in Yakima, Washington.
After his mission Stephen moved to Utah with the dream of becoming a neurosurgeon. After a few years at Brigham Young University, he realized his love for computers and solving complex problems became more energizing to him than his previous goal. Becoming an Application Developer at Cinch was one of his biggest highlights as an adult. He spoke so highly of the team and enjoyed his coworkers. Switching fields allowed him time to be outside and enjoy his life.
His love for the outdoors was like no other. He loved hunting, shooting, hiking, fishing, skiing, boating with family and friends, and wake surfing while shotgunning a mountain dew. He found peace spending time alone with nature. Stephen found exhilaration taking his car speed racing to the track or driving it up in the canyons.
He found mischief with his brother and best friend, Brandon, and his cousin, who was like a third brother, Nic Monson. His shenanigans were second to none. He was a leader and a jokester, instigating things with his brothers and sisters - especially his sister Julia. His dry humor and sarcasm were appreciated by all and always lit up the room. His smile was charming and his laughter was contagious.
Stephen’s heart was so big. He had a caring personality and his desire to help others and make them happy was never ending. He adored his baby brother Justin. Despite the long distance, he would find time weekly to play video games with him and help him with his homework. His baby sister Ella looked up to him and thought he was the coolest.
His one true love was Anya, his beautiful English Creme Retriever. She will miss him immensely.
His heart was in Utah. It belonged to the mountains and the beautiful night skies. Our son will be greatly missed. May he rest in peace with the knowledge that he was so loved and adored, and will be for eternity.
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Justin Rae
Stephen was great to have at Cinch for the time we were privileged to have him. He added a fun little Easter egg he put in our API on a specific integration when getting a success message he returned randomly one of these inspirational quotes: def list_of_inspirational_quotes(): msg = [ '"Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts." — Winston S. Churchill', '"It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation." — Herman Melville', '"The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same." — Colin R. Davis', '“Success usually comes to those who are too busy looking for it.” — Henry David Thoreau', '“Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” —Dale Carnegie', '"Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. The slogan ’Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race." —Calvin Coolidge', '“There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind.” —Mister Rogers', '“Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.” —John Wooden', '“I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.” —Estée Lauder', '“Success is getting what you want, happiness is wanting what you get.” ―W. P. Kinsella', '“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work in hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus. “ — Alexander Graham Bell', '“Either you run the day or the day runs you.” — Jim Rohn', '“I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.” — Thomas Jefferson', '“When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.” — Paulo Coelho', '“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” — Thomas Edison', '“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” — Tony Robbins', '“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” — Steve Jobs', '“It’s not about better time management. It’s about better life management” — Alexandra of The Productivity Zone', '“The elevator to success is out of order. You’ll have to use the stairs, one step at a time.” — Joe Girard', '“Be a positive energy trampoline – absorb what you need and rebound more back.” — Dave Carolan', '“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” — Zig Ziglar', '“Work until your bank account looks like a phone number.” — Unknown ', '“I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying.” — Oscar Wilde', '“People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day.” — Winnie the Pooh', '“Life is like a sewer… what you get out of it depends on what you put into it.” — Tom Lehrer', '“I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realise I should have been more specific.” — Lily Tomlin', '"You’re beautiful" — Your mom, probably...', '"Love the ’stache" — Pringles man, in your dreams', '"You’re one in 29...at least those were the odds you got this one:)"', ] return msg
Michelle Monson

We love Stephen and his great smile! ❤️
Linda Cucek

Ryan Halls
I was one of Stephen’s roommates and it was always an adventure whenever I spent time with him. I remember I was on a date at our apartment one night and he started cooking while the date was going on in the living room. He was pretty quiet the entire time, but all of a sudden he grabs a ton of paper towels and casually went to the garbage can with a bunch of blood on his hand. He had a super sharp knife and sliced the tip of his thumb off when he was cutting his onions. Everyone was freaking out, but he was just so nonchalant about it and just acted like it was no big deal. I loved just talking to Stephen about all of his new projects that he was working on, whether it was a new gun, a mod for his new guns, some idea for his car, or even a new way to cook his fried chicken or steak. I probably understood about 5% of what he would talk about, but I just loved listening to him because he was so passionate about everything that he did which I respect so much. I’ll miss Stephen and his contagious laugh and smile!
Linda Cucek

When Stephen & family visited Grandma & Grandpa Cucek, in Canada
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