John and Evelyn Stephens Endowment Fund
John Lawrence Stephens was born on January 31, 1937, in Goldburg, Idaho, in the remote Pahsimeroi Valley and was raised on a ranch with two brothers and one sister. Because the family lived in such a remote area, John’s early education was pieced together by living with friends and working in Sandpoint, Salmon, Meridian, and Boise. His jobs included working in a dairy and a cold storage plant, on a ranch, and at the second Albertson’s grocery store. John graduated from Boise High School in 1944, but could not attend the graduation ceremony because he had been drafted. Although he wanted to join the Navy and train as a pilot, he was drafted into the U.S. Army, subsequently serving in Panama as a medical supply sergeant. In 1951, he earned a bachelor’s degree from Washington State College and went to work as an assistant engineer for Allis-Chalmers in the general machinery division in Milwaukie, Wis. He designed and tested compressors used in wind tunnels, the refrigeration industry, and atomic energy production. From 1956 to 1964, he worked for Stearns-Roger Manufacturing Co. in Denver, Colorado, as a project engineer. There he designed and built portable compressors for underground gas storage and compression stations on gas lines and in gas fields. From 1964 to 1967, John was senior engineer with Trans-Arabian Pipeline Co. in Beirut, Lebanon. In that position, he built housing, hospitals, and jails for the Saudi nationals employed by the company, and was responsible for the maintenance and operation of all company equipment on 800 miles of crude oil pipeline. In 1967, he went to work for Arabian-American Oil Co. in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, as a construction engineer, supervising construction of pump stations, power plants, and gas-oil separation facilities. Returning to the United States in 1974, John entered graduate school at Washington State University and worked as a teaching assistant. He earned his master’s degree in mechanical engineering and was licensed as a professional engineer in 1977. For the next 15 years, he worked at Oregon State University in facilities services. In that position, he was responsible for maintenance and consulted on major construction projects on campus, including the design and installation of the campus energy management system. After retiring from OSU in 1992, he started an engineering consulting business called Delta Engineering Services. John earned his pilot’s license in 1947 while a student at Washington State College. During his college years, he was active in the Sigma Tau and Tau Beta Pi engineering societies, and he joined the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1953. After moving to Corvallis, he joined the Sister City organization, which took him to Uzhgorod, Ukraine, in 2002 to consult on an upgrade to the city water system and a sewer system for a local orphanage. He joined Corvallis Rotary in 1986 and became the club’s secretary in 1997. Beginning in 1988, John participated in the first three Cycle Oregon tours, which is a long-distance bicycle riding event. He is active in Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, serving two terms as council president and several terms as property chairman. He served as project leader in 1995 when church the expanded its facility. Dorothy Evelyn Branch was born on October 22, 1928, near Tacoma, Washington. She had two brothers. The family lived on a small farm and her father worked as a groundskeeper for the Veterans Administration hospital. Evelyn graduated from high school in Tacoma in 1946 and went to work as a ward secretary at Madigan Army Hospital. In 1948, she enrolled at Washington State College in Pullman. She met John Stephens and Jim Putnam at a dance class in 1948 and married Jim in June 1950. In 1951, three weeks after Evelyn and Jim’s son Kenneth was born, Jim was killed in combat in the Korean War. Evelyn and John had stayed in touch through Jim, and when Evelyn returned to Washington State in 1952, they maintained their acquaintance. In 1953, after Evelyn earned a bachelor’s degree in social studies and a provisional teaching certificate, she and John were married. Their daughters Lynn and Joanne were born in 1954 and 1958 respectively, and their son John “Steve” was born in 1960. The family moved three times while in Saudi Arabia. In Turaif, Evelyn taught fourth and fifth grades and a kindergarten class at the company school. After moving to Abqiaq, she was a Junior Girl Scout troop leader. She and John took Arabic lessons, and Evelyn learned to read and write some Arabic in addition to speaking the language. In 1970, she continued with the Girl Scouts and served as a scout camp director, including training adults for the camping experience. She also worked as a marine biology lab assistant and helped with a survey to determine whether ARAMCO was polluting the waters of the Persian Gulf. After returning to Pullman in 1973, Evelyn and her daughter, Lynn, enrolled at Washington State University and Evelyn earned a general teaching certificate. She taught a special education class to students aged five and up for four years. John returned home in 1974 and the couple moved to Corvallis. In 1977, Evelyn taught English as a Second Language for two years and then worked for 10 years for the federal government as a test administrator. Evelyn is a member of the Chintimini Garden Club, American Association of University Women, and Corvallis Assistance League. She is active in Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church and is a Stephen Minister. Evelyn enjoys doing crossword puzzles, playing bridge, and working on her family’s genealogy. John and Evelyn have eight grandchildren.