Earl Stephens Sr. was born March 25, 1943, in Walterboro, South Carolina, to Solomon Stephens and Martha Taylor. Earl had fond memories of Walterboro, which is why he decided to build his dream home there in 2015. Earl admired his grandfather Elias King Taylor Jr., a man who kept his fields green with corn, sugar cane, and collard greens. Earl strived to do the same, “Keeping his fields tilled and green.”
As a young child, Earl moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he continued his early education., He later graduated from Aviation High School in 1961, where he was of the few to graduated with an airplane mechanics license.
Earl joined the United States Air Force and was honorably discharged on September 18, 1964. Little did he know on the date he was discharged; a year he would marry the love of his life Renee Bowens. Earl and Renee were married for 49 years. Earl and Renee loved to travel and were fortunate to have traveled around the world as a young couple. Their travels took them all over the United States, Europe, South America, the Caribbean, and Asia.
Earl worked for Pam American Airlines for 25 years and received several awards for hard work and excellence. He was a mechanic who performed maintenance on every part of the airplane. From the sheet metal that makes up the skin to the engines that propel it to the avionics that guides it. He retired as an FAA inspector, responsible for regulatory compliance and ensuring airplane airworthiness.
Education has always been important to Earl, and he instilled this value in his four children. He attended Queensborough Community College in New York; the Acme School of Aeronautics in Forth Worth, Texas and Miami Dade College in Miami, Florida. Apart from his training in aeronautics, Earl is also a licensed Optician.
He volunteered alongside his wife on the PTA (Parent, Teachers Association and School Board District 29, in Queens, New York. Earl received several awards and recognition for his service as Treasurer and 2nd Vice President.
Earl was a devoted Christian, a committed member of St. Philip’s Christian Church, Brooklyn, New York, Greater New Bethel Baptist Church, Hialeah Florida, and Deep Creek Baptist Church in Walterboro, South Carolina.
Earl served as a faithful member of Deep Creek Baptist Church for the last five years. He was proud to become a Deacon in the church in 2019. As a man of faith, Earl encouraged his family and friends to always walk with God. “ … For with GOD all things are possible” (Mark 10:27)
Earl was a loving husband, father, grandfather, uncle, brother, and friend. Left to cherish his loving memory are the following: four children: Earl Jr. Lorraine, Mark, and Matthew; two daughter-in-laws: Dana and Eyka; one son-in-law, Olatunde; eight grandchildren: Christoper, Fayoni, Earl III, Rebande, Dominic, Ella, Elise, and Kaitlyn; four sisters: Ann, Gloria, Barbara Ann, and Betty Ann; a sister-in-law: Sandra (Tyrone); 8 brothers: Solomon, James (Diane), Ronnie (Dolly), Joseph, Dennis, Ricky, Bruce (Angela) and Allen.
Please leave the Family a note of Condolence, light a candle of remembrance.
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whether I go ye know, and the way ye know. John 14 1-4
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