John Hamilton Stevens, 81
John Hamilton Stevens, 81, went home to be with the Lord, Sunday, May 29, 2005, in Sandpoint, Idaho.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m., Thursday, June 2, 2005, at the New Song Bible Church in Sagle, Idaho, with pastors Barry Johnson and Jeff Bradley officiating. Full military honors will be presented. Viewing will be held Wednesday, June 1, from 3-8 p.m. at the Lakeview Funeral Home in Sandpoint.
Born in San Diego, Calif., on Nov. 1, 1923, to father J. Miles Stevens and mother Bernadine Combs-Stevens.
In 1942 he joined the United States Marine Corps II Division 6th Marines where they fought the battle successfully and took over the island of Tarawa.
He likes to tell people of his qualifying for expert riflemen in the Marines and received a letter of citation from President Roosevelt. He was honorably discharged in April 1945.
On July 14, 1945 in Lynwood, Calif., John married the love of his life, Juanita who always encouraged him with all of his endeavors during nearly 60 years of marriage.
He attended Compton Jr. College and then on to California Baptist Theological and Seminary and received his bachelor's degree and started his career just two units shy of receiving his master's degree.
He worked as a parole officer for the California Youth Authority serving the Los Angeles and Long Beach areas. Due to his vast knowledge on working with drug abusers and information on drugs, he was appointed by Gov. Ronald Reagan to the "Narcotic Addict Evaluation Board" as an authority on narcotics. He spoke in schools, churches as well as on live radio and TV. He started a counseling service in Lynwood, Calif., for addicts and families of addicts called "Operation LINDA," which stood for Local Information on Narcotics and Drug Abuse. He wrote and published a pamphlet describing narcotics and their symptoms. He also wrote a book called "On My Case" that included short stories of his true experiences of a Parole agent and board member. He handed out several copies but was never able to publish it.
Upon retiring, he resumed a hobby that he had carving and shaping pieces of acrylic into forms of art. He started working with acrylics when he was on the island of Tarawa, shaping pieces of windshield from tanks and planes into hearts and crosses.
Upon discharge from the service he learned to carve roses, orchids and numerous other objects with a dremmel tool, which supplemented his income while attending seminary college. He included a tiny heart in each piece of his work as his trademark for a reminder of God's love. He sold his work in art and craft shows, faithfully witnessing to others about God's love. He was inspired to experiment with shooting acrylic with bullets and copywrited it and called it "bullet art."
John and Juanita moved to Wrightwood, Calif., in 1973, where he started a yard and home care business. From there, in March 1999 they moved to Sandpoint to be near their children.
John served as a city councilman, and later as mayor of Lynwood population 45,000. He was president of the Snowline Good Sam's Club. He enjoyed RVing, hunting and his old Model "T" Ford. He took great pride in his yard and enjoyed mowing with his John Deere garden tractor. John had a fabulous sense of humor and liked to make people laugh.
He loved his family and loved family holidays and get togethers.
John leaves behind not only family and friends but also a legacy of honor and grace that will continue on for many generations.
He is survived by his wife, Juanita of Sandpoint; a sister, Lorraine (Fred) Curtis of La Palma, Calif.; a sister-in-law, Amy Stevens of Hemet, Calif.; a daughter, Laurie Stevens-Riffel of Sandpoint; a son, Jeff (Katsa) Stevens of Sandpoint; 11 grandchildren; 7 great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents and a brother, Edward Miles Stevens.
Please visit John's memorial at www.lakeviewfuneral.com and sign his online guest book.