James Leon Stevenson, 85 formerly of Lumberton, Texas died on February 7, 2010 in Sherman, Texas after a short illness. He was born in Farmersville, Texas on March 28, 1924, the third of five children born to LZ Alvin Stevenson and Ada Mae Evans Stevenson. After his family moved to Beaumont he attended David Crockett Jr. High and Beaumont High School. He also attended Lamar Institute of Technology after his World War II service. Leon served his country in the Army Air Force from February, 1943 to January, 1946. In the Asiatic-Pacific theater campaign he earned two Bronze Stars and a Philippine Liberation Ribbon with a Bronze Star. During that time he worked with heavy equipment and explosives building runways on islands as the Americans progressed across the Pacific. His platoon was sent with many others to participate in the occupation of Japan after the bombing of Nagasaki. Early in his life, Leon worked for the Texas Ice Company delivering ice and for Fair Maid Bakery. As a result he was not fond of the smell of freshly baked bread. After he was discharged from the army he married and worked again for the Texas Ice Company as an ice skating instructor at the Ice Rink on Neches Street. He retired in 1983 from Unocal, previously Pure Oil, where he was a refinery maintenance supervisor. He served on the Credit Union Board of Directors. He enjoyed bowling, playing golf and helping friends and relatives with home improvement projects. He loved volunteering at the Highland Ave. Baptist Church and the First Baptist Church Lumberton where he acted as the general contractor for the new sanctuary. He said that had he not been called into the service, he would have liked to have been a doctor. He was always up for doctoring a skinned knee or pulling a splinter from a finger, and he was a proficient baby tooth puller. Before his retirement, he built a house on his property in Colmesneil where he spent weekends fishing and enjoying life. He loved to tell the story of fishing with his daughter Carla, and catching an alligator. He brought it to the camp house in the bed of his little Ford truck, thinking it was dead. However, it roared to life when he pulled it by the tail from the truck bed.
James Leon Stevenson is survived by his daughters, Sharon Louise Siebern and her husband John of Houston, Carla Ruth Baylor and Bill Miller of Gordonville, his wife Dorothy Marie Seamans, and the mother of his daughters Ruby Adams Stevenson. He has grandchildren: Susan Baylor Downey and husband David of Euless, and Adam Michael Baylor and his wife Christina of Lumberton. His great-grandchildren are Madelyn Grace and Jake Michael Baylor and Anna Elizabeth Downey. He is also survived by many nieces and nephews across the country. He is predeceased by his parents, his sisters Frances Irene, Iva Mae and Fay Nell and his brother Alvin Russell Stevenson. Visitation will be Wednesday, February 10th, 5 pm and services on Thursday, February 11th, 10 am at R. S. Farmer Funeral Home, 415 North 4th St., Silsbee, Texas. Interment will be in Concord Cemetery, Zavala, Texas following the service.
