Ibach Park was a special place for former Tualatin mayor Steve Stolze and his wife of 46 years, Joyce Stolze.
This year, Steve Stolze worked with the city to commemorate Joyce Stolze’s life with a memorial park bench at Ibach Park. It was unveiled on May 29.
Joyce Stolze passed away in 2024, and Steve Stolze told Tualatin Life that after seeing memorial plaques on park benches in Arizona, he decided a bench in Ibach Park would be the perfect way to remember the former first lady of Tualatin.
“We lived in a house on 103rd Drive, right adjacent to Ibach Park,” Steve Stolze said. “My wife used to love to walk the dog on the concrete path there, and that was her favorite place to go…It is a very special place for us.”
Steve Stolze, who was Tualatin’s mayor from 1988 to 1994, said he reconnected with the city early this year after reaching out to Tualatin Program Coordinator Heidi Marx about the bench’s design and location details.
According to Marx, the city launched the memorial bench program in February of 2026, following substantial inquiries from former residents such as Steve Stolze. Marx said that city staff began considering the program in 2024.
“Beginning in 2024, we heard increasing interest from residents, and that helped identify the need for a formal program,” Marx said in an email to Tualatin Life. “By launching the program in 2026, we were able to create an opportunity for remembrance that also enhances our parks and trail system for everyone to enjoy.”
The city’s program was set up to review memorial plaque applications on a case-by-case basis, and Marx said that Tualatin already has two benches in Brown’s Ferry Park.
On the morning of May 29, Joyce Stolze’s bench was officially unveiled and presented to Steve Stolze along with friends, family and city staff.
Ryan Venne, Joyce Stolze’s stepson, was present that morning and told Tualatin Life that the bench would be a good spot for her grandchildren “to come and visit.”
Joyce Stolze’s good friend, Maxine Corrigan, was also at the unveiling and said she often walked around Ibach Park with Joyce Stolze, and that the park was a place where they shared many special moments.
“We laughed with each other, we cried with each other,” Corrigan said. “It will be really awesome to just have a place to come visit with her…There’s a huge amount of history with Joyce and Steve and the rest of the family.”
Stolze said that another reason he selected Ibach Park was that it was opened during his time in office.
“I asked specifically for the Ibach Park location because that was our weekend spot, we used to go over there and watch the kids play soccer, and we played softball there,” Steve Stolze said. “Ibach Park opened up while I was mayor, it just had a lot of meaning to us.”
Stolze said that he did not envision himself serving in public office when he and his wife had moved to Tualatin from Southern California. He explained that he was persuaded to run for mayor by a former Tualatin City Councilor over coffee.
“I used to stop and have coffee with him all the time, and he says, ‘You know, you outta run for office!’” Stolze said. “I ran for mayor, and I had no idea what I was in for.”
Stolze, who was responsible for helping to establish the Lake at the Commons in 1994, said that accomplishing that project with urban renewal district financing was his “proudest moment” as mayor.
Stolze emphasized that his marriage was always interwoven into his mayoral work and was excited to permanently commemorate his wife’s ties to Tualatin for the city and for himself.
“When I got elected, the Tualatin Times actually designated my wife as the ‘FLOT;’ First Lady of Tualatin,” Stolze said. “I wanted somehow or another to integrate that into the plaque, but couldn’t because of lettering size…I just thought her being the FLOT was kind of funny.”
