Lt. Col. Thomas W. Stephens September 26, 1926 – July 13, 2018 United States Army, Retired Thomas W. Stephens, 91 years young, left this earth at home on his July 13th, his favorite day.
Tom was born in Oklahoma. He was preceded in death by his parents, brother Ross, sister Marjorie, and his son Gregory. He leaves Margaret his loving wife of 65 years, daughter Gwendolyn, son-in-law Kevin, daughter-in-law Leah, Grandchildren Trey, Dan, Jaclyn and Jessica plus Great-Granddaughter Cadence.
He also leaves two nephews. After completing the 9th grade, Tom enlisted in the Navy in 1943 and served in the Seabee’s in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater and on Ulthi Atoll until the end of the war. Upon his discharge in 1946 he took a GED test and went to Limestone College in South Carolina for a year.
Looking for work, he ended up in Oklahoma where he joined the Air National Guard as a Sergeant and worked at Tinker Air Force Base. Restless, after a year he enlisted as a private in ASA US ARMY. He was at Carlisle Barracks in PA attending advanced high sped code school when he was notified he had been selected to attend OCS.
He graduated from OCS in April 1950 and in September went to Korea as an Arty.F.O. Cav. Div. After going up and down Korea several times, he was given a battle field promotion to 1st Lt and later he was caught in machine gun fire and evacuated to Japan where he spent months in the hospital there before being transferred to the hospital in Okinawa where his step-father and mother were stationed at the Air Force Base which helped with his recovery.
Upon his full recovery, he returned to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma in 1952 where he married the love of his life, Margaret. In 1954 Tom fulfilled his lifelong dream.
He got his Aviator Wings! ! His first assignment was Air Officer 216th FA Bn.
, a 280 MM gun unit which rotated from Ft. Sill to Darmstadt, Germany in 1955. From there, Tom was transferred to the 7th Army Air Recon Unit as Commander of their flight section.
In 1958 Tom became a flight instructor and Check Pilot at San Marcos Basic Flight School. When they closed in 1959 Tom was assigned aviation duties at Ft. Sill where he became helicopter and fixed wing twin engine rated.
After completing the Arty Associated Advance Course in 1961 he became the Commander of the 12th Avn Otter Co. (2 sections of 8 aircraft each) which deployed in mass to Fairbanks, Alaska. He remained its Commander until he was assigned to USAPEG here at Ft. Huachuca in 1963.
Initially he was AETD Commander. During a reorganization period, Tom served in the Service Test Division and later as Flight Section Commander at Libby Army Airfield. In 1966 Tom deployed to Vietnam.
First assignment was EX O of the 2nd of 20th aerial Rocket Arty Bn. , 1st Cav Div based at An Kahe. Later Tom joined the Captial Avn.
Bn. in Saigon as the Deputy Commander of Flt Detachment. In 1967 he was assigned to Ft.
Walters, Texas which was the Army’s primary helicopter school. After 22 ½ years in active duty service, which included combat in three wars, Tom retired at Lt. Col in 1968.
Upon retirement, they moved to Corpus Christi, Texas where he used his woodworking skills doing all the trim work for a new 108 apartment complex, which once completed he was appointed as General Manager. Then yearning for the open country, like he grew up on when he lived in Oklahoma, the next move was to a ranch in central Texas where he raised cattle. Later, his friend talked him into buying a shrimp boat and he spent several shrimping seasons on the Gulf Coast.
After several trips to Tucson to visit his mother, the decision was decided to move back to Sierra Vista where they had spent three wonderful years at Ft. Huachuca. Later, their daughter, Gwendolyn joined them and was selected Miss Sierra Vista 1977.
In 1979 Tom and Margaret decided to build a home on 12 acres in the Hereford area. They were their own architect, contactors and workers. Many contractors came to see their work and copied some of their ideas in building.
Living in the same house for over 35 years, they had the distinction of having 13 different addresses. The original name of the street Cheyenne was changed to Dakota and the Sierra Vista and Hereford Post Offices kept moving them back and forth. Their spare time was spent playing golf, bowling and either at their condo in Colorado near Vail or with their 35-foot party barge at their lake home at Lake Texoma in Texas.
When he learned that Ft. Huachuca Cemetery was closed for burials, Tom and Margaret began investigating the possibility of having a Veteran Cemetery located in Sierra Vista. Numerous people told them it was impossible to go against the government and it couldn’t be done, but after Margaret spent three months of calls and faxes to Washington getting needed information, Tom contacted a friend and they formed a committee to begin the work of getting a Veteran’s Cemetery.
After six years of working with numerous people and organizations the Southern Arizona Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery was dedicated on October 20, 2002. Tom served on the Palominos School Superintendent’s Advisory Board and was instrumental in the development of a hot lunch program started in the school district. He was the Grand marshal in the 2003 Veteran’s Day Parade and in 2004 he was inducted into the Arizona Veteran’s Hall of Fame.
In 2006 the President of Limestone College in South Carolina, where he had attended in 1946-1947, requested Tom’s membership to his President’s Advisory Council which he has served on ever since. He is a Life Member of the VFW, American Legion, Disabled American Veteran’s Association, MOAA and the Purple Heart Association. In 1986 he joined the Elks in Sierra Vista.
For years he belonged to the Mesquite Modelers Flying Club and enjoyed building and flying his model airplanes and helicopters. He was also an avid stamp collector and enjoyed his time with the Roadrunners Stamp Club and hunting season always found him roaming the mountains. Over his years of Military service, he received the following awards: Purple Heart, Air Medal with 1 Cluster, Army Commendation Medal, American Area Comp.
Medal, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Germany & Japan, National Defense Service Medal with 1 Cluster, Korean Service Medal with 3 bronze stars, United Nations Service Metal, Republic of Vietnam campaign Ribbon w/ device (1960), Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross w/ Palm Unit Citation Badge, Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation and a Certificate of Merit from the Military Officers Association of America. Services will be held on Monday, July 23rd at 11:00 AM at the Southern Arizona Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery with Military Honors. A gathering to celebrate his life will be held at the Elk’s Lodge following the services.
In lieu of flowers a donation to your favorite charity in Tom’s honor would be appreciated.
If you found any mistakes, or you would like to add/remove to this obituary, please contact us by email: info@obituary.memorial. We never ask money for this.
