[List] Obituary: Bill Stephens

[Cecil Stokes]

Mike,

This is just too good not to share!

Cec

On 10/27/2023 8:09 PM, Comcast wrote:
> Perhaps my fondest memory of Bill occurred around 1994.  I was the 
> Function Chief of the Ballistics section under Bill at MICOM. I had 
> decided to begin pursuit of a PhD from UAH and Bill surprised me with 
> a small party at which he gifted me with a dollar “for lunch money at 
> school”.  I framed that dollar with the quote “The true test of a 
> man’s character is what it takes to make him give up” and kept it on 
> my office desk throughout my courses. Upon graduation, I took the 
> framed dollar to Bill’s house and gave it to him.
> Bill was a leader that I always tried to imitate as I later assumed 
> his role as Director.
> Mike Lyon
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Oct 27, 2023, at 1:13 PM, Cecil Stokes <cstokes at hiwaay.net> wrote:
>>
>> 
>>
>> Dr. William D. (Bill) Stephens - rocket scientist, respected leader, 
>> race car driver, tennis player, scuba diver, Egyptologist, snow 
>> skier, palm reader, wine maker, poet, poker player, yachtsman, 
>> sharpshooter, fisherman, master negotiator, maker of memories and 
>> hopeless romantic - died at age 90 on 10/17/2023.
>>
>>  Born 11/17/32 to Claude E and Lillian Cole Stephens in Paris, 
>> Tennessee, Bill was raised in Charleston SC, Scranton PA, and 
>> Louisville KY. He graduated from Western Kentucky then earned his PhD 
>> in Chemistry at Vanderbilt University. He had a long and successful 
>> career at Thiokol Chemical Corporation in Huntsville, AL, then 
>> Goodyear Tire and Rubber in Akron, OH, then back to Thiokol in 
>> Huntsville. He went on to work for Atlantic Research in Washington, 
>> DC, before returning to Huntsville again in 1983, as Director of 
>> Propulsion for the US Army Missile Command (MICOM) until his 
>> retirement in 1998. During that time, he also served for 18 months as 
>> Associate Director of Technology for MICOM's Research, Development 
>> and Engineering Center, managing all areas of research and 
>> exploratory development.
>>
>>  An internationally recognized authority in investigation of 
>> explosions and accidents, Dr. Stephens was chosen to direct the 1985 
>> technical investigation of the catastrophic explosion of a US 
>> Pershing in Germany. During 1987, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the 
>> State Department assigned Dr. Stephens to lead the US technical team 
>> negotiating the INF Disarmament Treaty with representatives of the 
>> USSR in Geneva, Switzerland. Under his leadership in 1993, a 
>> five-year cooperative development program with Japan was started, 
>> followed by programs with the governments of Egypt, France, South 
>> Korea and Israel.
>>
>>  Dr. Stephens served twice as Chairman of the Executive Committee of 
>> the joint Army-Navy-Air Force Propulsion Committee (JANNAF). 
>> Other professional accomplishments included being granted or named on 
>> over 20 patents ranging from incorporation of bucky balls in solid 
>> rocket fuels to gel-based fire suppressants.
>>
>>  He was preceded in death by his parents and sister Steve-Anna Bird. 
>> He is survived by brother Charles Stephens (partner Anne Brown) of 
>> Fort Gratiot, MI, and his children Dan Stephens (Lisa) of Batavia, 
>> IL, Steve-Anna Stephens of Tucson, AZ, and Jenny Stephens (partner 
>> Kevin Robling), Bloomington, IN, as well as grandchildren Dani (and 
>> Hesham Nouh), Nate Stephens and Jon Stephens, and great grandchildren 
>> Mia and Rami Nouh.
>>
>>  A longtime resident of Huntsville, Alabama, Bill lived in 
>> Fayetteville, Tennessee from 2016 until January, 2023 when he moved 
>> into assisted living to be close to his youngest daughter in Indiana. 
>> Following cremation, his children will lay his ashes to rest in Maple 
>> Hill Cemetery in Huntsville, Alabama. There will be no public service.
>>
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