Harvey Wilson "Steve" Stephenson, Jr.

As he was growing up in Suffolk, Virginia, friends and family called him Wilson. He was the son of Harvey W. Stephenson and Mildred Barlow Stephenson. His brother Bob was nine years younger. Wilson was an adventuresome child, loved spending time in the woods behind his home, and especially loved spending time with his best friend Dail on the farm.

While still in school, Wilson worked at Piney Grove Esso Service Station and became interested in working with cars. Upon graduation from high school, he worked as a welder for Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company. In 1963 he joined the Army and  became an MP. It was in the Army that he got the nickname Steve.

While serving at White Sands Missile Range, Steve met Judy, the lady that would become his wife for 58 years. For thirty years they lived on one acre between Denver and Boulder, Colorado where they kept horses, dogs, cats, ducks, and geese. It hurt him to ride horses, so he took up driving horses and he restored several carriages. He bought a Ford Model A Sport Coupe and restored it from the ground up. Later he bought a Ford Model AA 1 1/2 ton truck and was almost finished restoring it.

Steve learned woodworking from his grandfather and could build almost anything. Steve and Judy did extensive remodeling to their  home in Colorado as well as their home in Virginia. His last project was to build an acorn pediment and surround around a new front door that was installed on their home last spring.

In Colorado, Steve worked as a machinist for Sundstrand Corporation and for Explosive Fabrication. In 1972 he went to work for Mountain Bell where he went up the ladder from prewiring homes to installer to repair to engineering. In 1997 with 25 years of service, he retired from the phone company and returned to his home state of Virginia.

In retirement, he helped build houses for Habitat for Humanity. He also enjoyed restoring tractors. His happy place was being on his John Deere tractor bushhogging the fields. While in Colorado, he had started a model train layout, but when he retired, he built a larger layout. He spent a lot of time working on the layout and running the trains.

Steve kept his membership at the First Baptist Church in Suffolk, but he attended and actively served on the Building Committee of Liberty Chapel Baptist Church in Appomattox, Virginia.

Steve is survived by his wife Judy, brother Rev. Robert W. “Bob” Stephenson, nephew Rev. Mark W. Stephenson and his wife, Stephanie, and a great nephew Ethan L. Stephenson. He was preceded in death by his parents and by his sister-in-law Joan Stephenson.

A graveside service was held on December 6, 2023, at Magnolia Cemetery in Elon, North Carolina with Rev. Bob Stephenson, pastor of Riverside Baptist Church, officiating.