Stephen joined the US Navy in the Summer of 1943, shortly after graduation, and was immediately selected for the corps of Naval engineers. Later that summer before departing from the port of Coronado bound for the south seas, Stephen met me while strolling along the breakwater in the San Diego marina. In his dress whites, he caught my attention quite easily. He saw me gazing as we approached one another, and came right up and introduced himself. It did not take long for us to fall in love, and a good thing too, for he departed a few weeks later.

Stephen was part of Douglass MacArthur’s "island hopping campaign," through the Phillipines, and straight into Tokyo Bay. After V-J Stephen and I were able to build a life together, more meaningful than anything in this world to me. After his retirement from the Navy he was offered a job in Dallas for Sinclair Fossil Fuels. That was such an exciting and explosive time that although his degree was in mechanical engineering, he was able to re-devote himself to whatever the company required of such an intelligent and capable man. With a natural aptitude for complex studies and systems, Stephen essentially changed his entire trade, and for 33 years worked as a petro-chemical engineer, creating some of Sinclair Oils’ most innovative fossil fuel processing advancements. In Dallas, Stephen and I raised three beautiful children, who in turn have given us six beautiful grandchildren.

Upon retiring in 1983 Stephen and I enjoyed what people now call golden years together. Since 1983 we have traveled to many destinations in Europe including Rome, Nice, Cannes, and Pamplona. We have been to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in South America. And last but not least, to Luzon in the Philippines which Stephen helped to liberate under MacArthur in 1944.

Stephen died of natural causes in our Dallas home exactly a month after his birthday but not before his final Fourth of July. He was 77 and loved by all who ever knew him.