MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: STEVE LOFTIS HONORS UNCLE MAX ON A LONG, DIFFICULT TREK THROUGH THE DESERT BY CINDY LANGE-KUBICK, LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR Steve Loftis set off with Uncle Max early Thursday morning. The Lincoln man left his home on Jade Court at 5 a.m., wearing combat boots and camo and a weighted rucksack, the start of a 26.2-mile trek along south Lincoln trails in honor of Max Lockhart, the uncle he never knew. A mile away, his neighbor and training buddy, Pat Driver, waited in the dark with a cowbell and a blast of ’80s rock to send him on his way. He was back on Jade Court at 10:46 a.m. with that bell, ringing Loftis home. Six months of training and another BataanMemorial DeathMarch marathon in the books—this one virtual—in memory of Pfc. Max Lockhart, forever 23. Loftis grew up in Tekamah, like his Uncle Max before him. It was a patriotic town, the 69-year-old said. A proud American town. Steve Loftis of Lincoln after the 2016 Bataan Memorial Death March in White Sands, N.M. The memorial march honors the thousands who died on the march to prisoner of war camps in the Philippines in April 1942. Loftis walks with his Uncle Max Lockhart’s photo taped to the back of his heavy rucksack. Lockhart died in a POW camp. One mile into the Bataan Memorial Death March in 2016. Steve Loftis trains for six months to prepare for the 26.2 mile march wearing combat boots and a 35-pound rucksack. Steve Loftis received a bachelor’s degree in business with an accounting emphasis from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1978, followed by a master’s degree in management from Doane University in Crete. He received his CPA certificate in 1979, working for Peat Marwick (now KPMG LLP) before moving into private industry. Loftis retired in 2012 as vice president, secretary, and CFO of Lester Electrical in Lincoln. He has been a member of the Nebraska Society of CPAs since 1985. I S S U E 3 , 2 0 2 2 16 nebraska cpas
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