Ronald Boyd Stephens

April 23, 1942 - April 22, 2026

Born to Mary Emma Basset and Norman Dale Stephens. He was raised by his stepfather, Henry W. "Dub" Corbell, who was like a father to Ron.

Ron spent his formative years in De Leon, Texas until his third-grade year in which Dub and Mary Corbell moved to Fort Worth, Texas for work at Carswell Airforce Base and Sears and Roebuck, respectively. Ron graduated from Trimble Tech High School in Fort Worth, started his college career at University of Texas at Arlington as an engineering student. It was a UT Arlington, in which Ron joined ROTC. He continued in the ROTC, transferring to North Texas State University, in Denton, TX to pursue his passion of art. Ron graduated with a bachelor's degree in art in May 1966 from North Texas State University. Ron Stephens and Sandy Krupicka met on a blind date at North Texas State University, where she was a freshman and he was senior. They dated for a few weeks before he went to Officer's Basic Training, and she transferred to UT Austin. Both were married on September 10, 1966.

Through his time serving in the ROTC in college, Ron was able to join the US Army as a 1st Lieutenant in the 502d Admin Co, 2nd Armored Division, 4th Infantry, training at Officer's Basic in Indianapolis from June-August 1966. Ron was deployed September 30, 1966, to Pleiku, Vietnam. Ron & Sandy spent his R&R in Honolulu in April 1967. He came home after being informed about the loss of his brother, Michael Jeff Stephens in Vietnam in August of 1967. Ron returned back to the US where he and Sandy lived in Copperas Cove near Fort Hood. He was honorably discharged in 1968 and then served an additional 4 years in the National Guard in Dallas, TX.

After serving in Vietnam, Ron looked for work in Austin but found work in Dallas at Southwestern Life Insurance Company in advertising. Ron then worked at Case Advertising, meeting his good friend Joe Philips. Ron would go hunting with Joe and often took his sons, Shawn and Shane, on Joe's deer lease in East Texas. Ron created the artwork for the baseball magazine that Joe Phillips published on the side. After Case Advertising, Ron went to work at BSN, where he met another good friend, Jim Webb. Jim, Ron and Shawn went fly fishing around Texas and a few trips to the San Juan River in New Mexico. After BSN, he worked at Square One in Irving, owned by Jim Dillard, where the company eventually moved to downtown Dallas. After this, he worked security for Neiman Marcus at their warehouse in Irving.

He served as Pack Leader of Cub Scout Pack 827 and Scoutmaster of Troop 868 for many years, with both sons reaching Eagle Scout rank. He was also president of Irving Art Association, a member of Richardson Civic Art Society, and a member of the Southwestern Watercolor Society.

He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Sandy, his 2 half-sisters Norma Hannigan of New York, NY and Marylin Ryan of Waynesboro, VA, two sons, Shawn (1973) of Houston, TX and Shane (1977) of McKinney, TX, a daughter Shannon who passed shortly after birth in 1976, and grand-daughters Hannah, Rebekah and Hope and daughters-in-law Sarah and Melissa.

He was an incredibly loving and supportive husband, father, grandfather, friend, colleague and artist. He'll be missed by all that knew him.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation to the Irving Art Association, Richardson Civic Art Society or Scottish Rite for Children at https://scottishriteforchildren.org

"May the Great Scoutmaster of all good Scouts be with us until we meet again." - Scoutmaster's Benediction

Please leave the family condolences and share memories on this website.