Steven Jay Niethamer
PALM SPRINGS - Dr. Steven J. Niethamer, of Palm Springs, passed away peacefully on December 7, 2024 at his home, surrounded by family, after a brave two year battle with pancreatic cancer.
Steve was born on April 2, 1948 to George and Mary Niethamer in South Gate, CA - he a machinist and she a music director for Job’s Daughters - and grew up in Lynwood a middle child of six siblings: Jean, John, Charlie, Ann, and Kathy. He graduated Lynwood High School in 1966 as class president, and progressed to a BA in Biology from UC Riverside in 1970. His parents instilled in him values of generosity and kindness, but also hard work and moderation. Steve thus decided to pursue a career in dentistry, spending the next four years at the School of Dental Medicine at Washington University, St Louis MO.
It was the next three years as an officer in the Indian Health Service that would truly shape Steve’s life and career. Working primarily with young children in remote and disadvantaged communities of Nevada and Arizona, Steve found his vocation in the field of pediatric dentistry, and completed his education at Harbor General/UCLA Medical Center in 1979 to specialize in this challenging field.
Before settling to work, Steve traveled Mexico, Europe, and N. Africa, including driving his parents around Europe and the UK. In 1982 he decided to set up a private pediatric dental practice in ‘one of the sunniest places he found’, Palm Springs, where he would dutifully and passionately serve the Coachella Valley’s (and later the Yucca Valley’s) children for nearly forty years. He obtained his Diploma from the American Board of Pediatric Dentistry in 1991.
He subsequently became very active in the wider pediatric dentist community, developing and editing the website for the California Society of Pediatric Dentists from 2002, and their online continuing education platform used by dentists from over 70 countries. He was an avid photographer, a device he skillfully used for both recording the past and meeting new friends and colleagues. He was finally honored with a Distinguished Service award from the CSPD in 2023.
Steve met his wife Bounthom Niethamer (née Prakhin) and her son Darasack in Palm Springs, marrying in 1993 and having their daughter Natasha the following year. This loving and productive partnership would take him across the globe to Laos, and beyond, fuelled by Bounthom and Steve’s shared love of good food and travel. Both as a single and family man, however, he would perhaps be at his happiest on early Friday mornings, sitting at Sherman’s, drinking coffee and reading The Desert Sun, watching the deep blue shadows slowly retreat across the San Jacinto mountains. He will be much remembered and greatly missed.