Col. Richard K. Stephenson (Ret.)

Colonel Richard K. Stephenson (Ret.), USAFR, died suddenly at the Meadville Medical Center early on Sunday, October 19, 2008.  He was 82 years old.

Born in Miami, Fla. on Christmas Day, 1925, he was raised in Danville and Oak Park, Illinois.  He graduated from Oak Park – River Forest High School in 1943 and immediately enlisted in the U.S. Navy.  After undergoing basic training at Great Lakes Naval Training Center, Stephenson was initially assigned to an assault craft training unit at Little Creek Amphibious Base in Norfolk.  Before he could complete his training, however, he was reassigned to the USS McLanahan, DD-615, a Benson-class destroyer which saw combat in the European Theater of WWII in support of the invasion at Anzio, Italy.

Following his honorable discharge from the Navy in 1946 as a Radarman 3rd Class, Stephenson enrolled at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.  While at Drake, he competed in the hurdles, long jump, and 440-yard relay in the renowned Drake Relays and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1950 with a major in economics.  He was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

He married the former Marilyn Alice Posson of Oak Park, Illinois, on September 15, 1951.

Less than a year later, Stephenson was recalled to active duty at the outset of the Korean conflict.  This time around, however, he served as a Medical Service Corps officer with the U.S. Air Force, stationed at Scott AFB near St. Louis, and Lowry AFB in Denver, Colo.  Following his second discharge from active duty, he remained to earn an MBA from the University of Denver in 1955.

Stephenson began his business career with Sunbeam Equipment Corporation in Chicago the following year.  He relocated to Meadville with his young family in 1958 when Sunbeam purchased the Westinghouse Furnace Division.  Stephenson was the director of marketing and advertising for Sunbeam and, later, Seco-Warwick Corporation during his thirty-five year career, retiring in 1991.  He briefly emerged from retirement to manage the David Mead Inn before the building was converted to a long-term assisted-living facility.

Stephenson was very active in community affairs over the last fifty years.  He was president of the Meadville Area P.T.A. Council in the 1960’s and, more recently, was instrumental in founding College Night for prospective college students at the high school.  He has been past president of the Meadville Western Crawford County Chamber of Commerce, the Meadville Kiwanis Club, and the local chapter of the Military Officers Association of America.  He was formerly a member of the Board of Directors for Spencer Hospital, continuing on the Board of Incorporators of Meadville Medical Center after the new entity was formed by merger. He acted in the MMC Auxiliary’s Charity Follies and appeared as Arvide Abernathy in a community theater production of “Guys and Dolls” in the late 1980’s.  Stephenson was also a longtime loyal member of Stone United Methodist Church and its choir.

Stephenson has helped plan numerous commemorative ceremonies for Memorial Day and Fourth of July celebrations in Meadville, and he organized the air show for the town’s Bicentennial celebration in 1988.  He has been City Controller since 1992, serving in his fifth consecutive four-year term.

Colonel Stephenson resumed his military service as a reservist in the Air Force in the 1960’s, assigned to the 910th Airlift Wing as director of the medical clinic at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station.  His collateral duty, however, was just as significant, advising prospective Air Force Academy applicants from the entire western half of Pennsylvania and commanding other liaison officers doing the same task.  He retired from the Air Force Reserve in 1981, having been awarded the Meritorious Service Medal and having attained the rank of colonel.  He was a lifetime member of VFW Post 2006.

Colonel Stephenson is survived by his wife of fifty-seven years, Marilyn (Lynn) of Meadville; a son, Dr. Keith Stephenson, his wife, Julann Kata Stephenson, and three grandchildren: Gabrielle, Benjamin, and Erinn, all of Blacksburg, Virginia; and a nephew, Richard Shelhamer, of Oak Brook, Illinois.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Blanche McKinley Stephenson and Ellis H. Stephenson, a sister, Gloria Stephenson Shelhamer and a nephew, Stephen Shelhamer.

Calling hours will be Tuesday, October 28th from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. at the Robert W. Waid Funeral Home, Inc., 581 Chestnut Street, Meadville.  The funeral will be Wednesday Oct. 29th at 11 a.m. at Stone United Methodist Church, 956 S. Main Street, Meadville with the Rev. John Spahr, Pastor, officiating.

Burial with military honors provided by Huidekoper VFW Post #2006 will be in Greendale Cemetery.

The family suggests memorials be made to Stone United Methodist Church, 956 S. Main Street, Meadville, PA 16335 or the Meadville Public Library, 848 N. Main Street, Meadville, PA 16335.