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MEMORIAL ARTICLE
Published Assembly Apr '51
Robert Hogan Stephenson No. 15595
Class of 1946 Killed on March 23, 1950 near Phoenix,
Arizona. Interment: March 31, 1950, Arlington National
Cemetery |
Steve was born at Indianapolis, Indiana on the 23rd
of January 1923. The Stephenson family moved shortly thereafter
to California, which Steve adopted as his native state.
From the beginning Steve was a very colorful character
and his life was filled with enjoyment and happiness. His childhood
was distinguished for the development of two of his most outstanding
characteristics the organizer and the diplomat. He was always
the ring leader, and the perfect diplomat when apprehended for
his endless string of childhood pranks.
His first nine years of schooling included attendance
at both Hamilton School and Polytechnic Elementary at Pasadena,
California. His next move was to Culver Military Academy for
three years. His schooling at Culver nearly met an untimely end
when he was instrumental in dumping Culver’s Reveille Cannon
into a nearby lake on Halloween Night. But being the suave, personable
and smooth-tongued cadet, he convinced the school authorities
of his potentialities and was permitted to continue in school
and graduate Cum Laude in 1941.
From Culver, Steve enrolled at Stanford University at
Palo Alto, California. Here he had the greatest of all times.
In fact, so good that the school authorities decided that he
would be better off at home from mid-year on. One can not blame
Steve for this situation because he had a lot of living to get
fast after his regimentation at Culver.
The next fall, and this brings us to 1942, Steve enrolled
at the Virginia Military Institute, where he suffered the usual
indoctrination as a “Plebe” for a year. The following
spring he won an appointment to West Paint and entered the Gray
Walls on July 1, 1943. Plebe Year at the Point would have been
extremely trying and difficult for the average cadet who had
already completed one “Plebe” year at VMI, but Steve
took it in his stride and his cheerful disposition and humorous
mannerisms made life more pleasant and worthwhile for all of
us who were fortunate enough to know him.
Academics and athletics came easy for Steve. He was
frequently appointed or selected to serve on the numerous cadet
committees, such as the Hop Committee and First Class Committee.
He became intensely interested in aviation during his Yearling
Year and was sent to Primary Flight Training at Uvalde, Texas,
in the spring of ‘45, and to Stewart Field for Basic Flight
Training in the summer of ‘45. He received his silver wings
and gold bars on June 4, 1946.
After graduation, he was assigned to Enid, Oklahoma
for B-25 Transition Training. He arrived in Enid for flight training
after having traversed the United States several times during
graduation leave serving as a best man or usher in weddings of
his classmates. Steve is well remembered at Enid for his famous
car, “Whisky Nose" which was always available for anyone’s
use, and also for that famed “Stephenson-Donahue Gambling
Casino” in the BOQ which lost its assets after a one night
stand.
It was at Enid that Steve was thrown into a flat spin
by a bridesmaid at a wedding in which he was acting in his usual
capacity of usher or best man. When he finally came down out
of the clouds a few months later—in the fall of ‘47--the
Bachelors Association of ‘46 had lost its most staunch member
to Miss Doris Griffin of Chickshaw, Oklahoma. To the happy marriage
of Doris and Steve, was born a daughter, Cynthia—“Cynnie”
to her admirers—in March 1949.
From the fall of ‘46 to the spring of ‘50
Steve was assigned to the 65th Bombardment Squadron at Davis-Monthan
Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona. While assigned to the 65th Bombardment
Squadron, he participated in numerous noteworthy B-29 and B-50
flights, such as maneuvers in Japan during June 1947, a Good
Will Tour of Europe while based in Germany in the fall of 1947,
and cold weather operations in Alaska during the winter of 1949.
While in Alaska he became a member of the “Order of Polaris”,
for successful completion of a flight over the North Pole, and
also graduated from the Arctic Indoctrination School at Nome.
His service included training in 1945 at the Armed Forces
Special Weapons Project at Sandia Base, New Mexico, and at the
Anti-Submarine Warfare School conducted by the U.S. Navy at Norfolk,
Virginia, and at Key West, Florida.
It was on the morning of the 23rd of March 1950 that death
struck suddenly near Phoenix, Arizona, when Steve’s B-50
Bomber disintegrated due to fire while on a routine training
flight. He was buried with full military honors at Arlington
National Cemetery on March 31, 1950.
Steve’s life was completely full of hard work,
play and enthusiastic living. The greatest of all his talents
was making those around him happy, erasing their disappointments,
and exulting in their successes. This ability to give part of
himself to those who needed him made his life, though too short,
the height of success itself. The memory of “Fabulous Stephenson”
will go on forever!
--C. R. D., a Classmate.
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