Thomas Joseph Stephens

Stephens, Thomas Joseph

Age 87, of Arcanum, passed away on June 7, 2018 at State of the Heart Care in Greenville, Ohio, after a courageous battle with cancer. He was born on December 4, 1930 to C.I. and Florence (Hathaway) Stephens in Arcanum, Ohio.

Tom was preceded in death by his parents; brother, William Jack Stephens; grandson, Zachary Stephens Garbig; great-granddaughter, Grace Catherine Snyder; daughter, Katherine Louise Hayes, and son-in-law, Gary Thompson.

Tom will be deeply missed by his wife of 67 years, Elizabeth “Liz” (Mondics) Stephens; daughters, Kris (Tom) Rinehart, Marilyn (Gary-deceased) Thompson, Karen (Phil) Garbig; son-in-law, Dr. David R. Hayes; grandchildren, Stephanie Hearn, Kevin McGlinch, Julia Haney, Joshua Baker, Shannon Pepper, Caroline Schmidt, Brad Hayes, Ben Garbig, Mark Hayes, Heather Snyder; 26 great grandchildren; 1 great-great grandchild; brother-in-law John (Barbara) Mondics, and numerous other relatives and friends.

Tom was the vice-president, head sawyer and chief maintenance officer of Stephens Lumber Company for nearly 53 years. He was very proud of the many inventions/patents he developed while at the lumber company, but his greatest accomplishment was supplying lumber for the renovation of the battleship, USS Constitution (Old Ironside), docked in Boston, Massachusetts. He was also a member, past trustee, and head sawyer of the Darke County Steam Threshers, member of the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society and for many years was the engineer, fireman and chief mechanical officer of Fort Wayne’s infamous steam engine, Nickle Plate Road #765. In addition, he was a member of the Garst Museum, Arcanum Wayne Trail Historical Society, and several other railroad historical societies. He was also in the United States Navy from May 1949 – May 1957.

Memorial services will be held Saturday, June 16, 2018 at 12PM noon at Trinity Methodist Church in Arcanum, Ohio, with Pastor Doug Baker officiating. The family will receive friends on Saturday, June 16th from 10AM -12PM at the church, leading into the services. It is the wishes of the family that memorial contributions be made to State of the Heart Care – Care Center in Greenville and/or the Cancer Association of Darke County. Arrangements in care of Kreitzer Funeral Home, 204 N. Main St. Arcanum, OH 45304. Email condolences may be sent by going online to www.kreitzerfuneralhome.com