Roger Emmett STEPHENSON Sr.

STEPHENSON, Roger Emmett, Sr. 5/3/1927 - 9/7/2017 90, passed away peacefully in his Tucson home in the presence of his two sons, Roger Jr. and Brian. Born in Douglas, Arizona, he graduated from Douglas High ('44) and the University of Arizona ('55), earning a degree in Civil Engineering. He is predeceased by Patricia, his wife of 66 years and their daughter, Carol Ann, and survived by their two sons and four granddaughters, Maureen Furey, Lauren, Kristen and Jennifer Stephenson. Upon graduating from high school, Roger attended the UofA for a semester before joining the Navy during WWII, serving on the U.S.S. Kearsarge (CVA-33). He returned to UofA in the fall of 1946 where he met his future wife, Patricia Peters, and married in 1951. He was called to active duty with the Air Force, served as a radar detachment officer in Libya, then returned to complete his engineering degree. Roger and Patricia moved to the Los Angeles suburb of Covina to raise their family and began his 30 year career as a Civil Engineer for the State of California, Division of Safety and Dams. In 1978 they moved to Sacramento and returned to Tucson in 1988 after retirement. During his remaining 29 years in Tucson, Roger and Patricia both shared a passion for genealogy, traveling and researching throughout the United States and Northern Europe. They loved to spend summers at their cabin in Forest Falls, California where Roger would build and improve while Patricia would create and make it more beautiful. He remained active with the UofA Alumni Association, Arizona Westerners, American Society of Civil Engineers, and was a charter member of Catalina Foothills Church. Roger will always be remembered as a loving, dependable, selfless and wise man of few words and quick wit who embodied perseverance, kindness, self control and built a family that valued a strong work ethic and sense of service. Funeral Services will be held in Tucson at EAST LAWN PALMS MORTUARY, 5801 E. Grant Road on Saturday, September 23, 2017 at 10:00 a.m.