Customers invited to a celebration of life for well-known Wichita waiter who died suddenly
Anyone who’s dined at Wichita’s Bella Vita Bistro at 120 N. West St. over the past nine years has probably been waited on by smooth-talking waiter Steve Limberis — or overheard him at a nearby table and wished he was waiting on them.
Limberis, who would travel through the dining room playfully chiding his customers in his Greek accent or enthusiastically extolling the deliciousness of chef Adrian Prud Homme DeLodder’s latest Northern Italian special, was so charming that he was still best friends with his ex-wife, Bella Vita owner Lory Wooley. He moved to Wichita to work for her as a server in 2015.
But earlier this month, Limberis died suddenly at age 71, shocking not only his coworkers and friends but also his longtime customers. Wooley described one diner who came in not long after Limberis’ death and started crying when he heard the news. He cried through his entire meal and left $200 toward Limberis’ funeral expenses when he left.
“It’s hitting people very, very hard,” said Wooley in between her own tears earlier this week. “This has had a big, big impact on people because everyone knew him.”
That’s the reason that Wooley has planned a celebration of Limberis’ life at the restaurant. The casual gathering will happen from 3 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, June 9, when Bella Vita would normally be closed. Customers and those who knew Limberis are invited to drop in, have a bite and share their memories .
Wooley said she was finishing up a vacation in the Caribbean with her husband, Paul, when she received a text message from her grandson saying there was an emergency at home. It was nearly 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 7, and Limberis was late for work.
He was never late for work.
Limberis had been cat sitting for the Wooleys while they were out of town and was staying at their house, but he wasn’t answering the door, even though his car was parked outside. Lory told her grandson where to find a spare key, and Chef Prud Homme DeLodder and another Limberis friend went over to check on him.
When they entered the house, they found Limberis dead in his bathrobe. Paramedics later said he died of natural causes, though no specific cause was identified. Limberis, a diabetic, hadn’t been feeling well for a few days, Lory said, so it could have been any number of causes, but he died sometime between the time he returned home from work on Monday, May 6, and the following morning.
Lory said she’s still having trouble accepting the death of her friend and top employee, who she first met in Florida in the 1980s.
Limberis, she said, was born in Istanbul. His father was Greek, and his mother was Turkish. The family fled Turkey when he was 12, and he grew up in Canada. As a young man, he worked as an accountant, but he didn’t like it. His love of people drew him to the service industry.
He met a woman from Florida when he was younger and moved there to marry her. That marriage didn’t last, but Limberis stayed in Florida. That’s where he met Lory, who at the time was going through a divorce and was dating a man Limberis worked with. Limberis would tag along on some of his friend’s dates with Lory, who soon realized that Limberis treated her better than the man she was dating.
“I fell in love with him long before we even started dating,” she said.
She was on another date a few years later when she ran into Limberis at a nightclub. Her date was a jerk, so Lory took Limberis to the dance floor. They stayed there all night, she said, and Lory never talked to her original date again.
She and Limberis dated for about eight months then got married when Lory was 28. In 1994, they started a restaurant together — an Italian place in Hudson, Florida, called Stefan’s. But the stress of running the business eventually broke them up after about 14 years of marriage. Lory moved to Michigan and met Paul Wooley. Limberis moved to Las Vegas, where he stayed until the two agreed he should move to Wichita and work at Bella Vita.
Despite their breakup, Lory and Limberis remained close. When he moved to Wichita, Limberis was absorbed into her family and spent every Thanksgiving and Christmas at the Wooley household.
Since his death, Lory said, she’s been hearing from people all over town who also loved Limberis. The people at the bank, the people at his pharmacy, and even Limberis’ favorite waitress at Village Inn, where he would eat breakfast every Thursday morning, have reached out to express their grief. That Village Inn waitress even has been filling in as a server at Bella Vita while Lory decides how to make up for Limberis’ absence.
Lory said she has a picture of Limberis sitting in her house, and every morning she talks to him over coffee.
She’ll never stop missing him, she said, and neither will the restaurant.
“He just had the biggest of hearts,” she said. “He loved everybody, and everybody loved him. He would do anything for you if you needed him too.”
This story was originally published May 30, 2024 at 10:42 AM.
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