06/02/2026
Steven Janke — U.S. Marine, fifth-generation Wisconsin dairy farmer, and the founder of Semper Forward — passed away on Sunday, May 31, 2026.
Steve said his story was one of soil and roots. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1996 and served with Bravo Battery, 1st Battalion, 12th Marines, stationed in Kaneohe Bay and Okinawa. He came home to Westfield, Wisconsin and milked cows for fifteen years on the family farm. In 2017, he took a role at the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Governor asked if Wisconsin could recruit transitioning service members to come live and work in the state. Steve walked out of that meeting saying, "I’ll do it. I'll show the gospel of the Great State of Wisconsin."
That inspired him to found Mission Wisconsin and then Semper Forward. Since 2020, Steve has supported thousands of service members through their transition, including hundreds of military families who chose Wisconsin as their next home. He believed every transitioning service member had two missions: the one they served, and the next one. He made it his life's work to help them find that next mission.
Steve led with warmth, pride for The Great State of Wisconsin, and the conviction that networking was about digging the well before you needed the water. He showed up. He made calls from the car between events to check on everyone. He told stories — because, as he put it, "if we don't share stories and if we don't tell them, they die."
So we will keep telling his story.
And we will keep doing the work he started for every service member, every spouse, and every family still looking for their next mission. That's the legacy Steve leaves us, and we will honor it.
He is survived by his two children, Ashton and Emma; his parents, Alyson and Terry; his siblings Tim and Margaret; and a community that runs from Westfield, Wisconsin to every base he ever set foot on.
A memorial service will be held Friday, June 5 at 7:00 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church in Westfield, Wisconsin, with full military honors. Visitation begins at 4:00 p.m., and a celebration of life will follow at Thal Acres Golf & Bowling Complex.
In lieu of flowers, the family is planning to establish a fund for Ashton's and Emma's education. Details are in Steve's obituary at Steinhaus-Holly Funeral Home.
We encourage everyone to share a story about Steve in the comments (and, as Steve would say, the more inappropriate the better!).
Steve trusted us with the mission. We are carrying it forward.
Forward, The Semper Forward and Fastport team
