Edward O. Stephany Professor and Chair

Mathematics (1947-1980)

U.S. Marine Corps Active WWII Lieutenant Colonel 1937-1976 (Active & Reserve) During the summers of 1935 and 1936 Edward attended Marine Base at Quantico, Virginia for training. Upon graduation from the University of Rochester in 1937 he was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Marine

Corps Reserve. After receiving Master’s Degree, attended Cornell University on a work-study program to earn his doctorate. In September 1940 he was invited to go on active duty but declined—at that time ready to take oral exam and write thesis. In December 1940 he was ordered to active duty and reported to the Philadelphia Naval Base for basic

training on February 23, 1942. Upon completing training he was ordered to Quantico for duty and instruction in a Base Defense Weapons Course. In September he was assigned go Parris Island, S.C.; in December 1941 he was sent to Camp Lejeune, N.C.; and in April 1942 he was sent overseas to British Samoa. In February 1944 he was in the invasion of Marshall Islands, landing on the atoll of Kwajalein and two weeks later on the atoll of Eniwetok where he was injured and had a 30-day leave after 23 ½ months overseas. He

was sent to Camp Pendleton in California and in August to 3 months at Fort Sill, Oklahoma for Advanced Artillery School. He returned to Camp Pendleton and was sent overseas in December 1944 and in the following April he was in the unit that landed on Okinawa. He remained in the reserves until July 6, 1976 when he retired with rank of Lt. Colonel.

Awards: Purple Heart

Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon Asiatic-Pacific Theater Ribbon and three others.

Trivia Stories from Arline about Edward Stephany’s Marine Corps Days When crossing the equator for the first time there was an initiation into the King Neptune ritual and they shaved off all of Ed’s hair. Being stationed in Samoa and rarely wearing a cap, Ed never grew his hair back. When a former commanding officer saw him overseas he offered to put in for compensation but Ed refused because he did not think it would interfere with a civilian job in his field. Ed and Arline had planned to marry when Ed completed his doctorate. When he was called to active duty they decided to marry at the end of his basic training. The date was set for May 31, 1941 and all arrangements were made. Four weeks before the end of the course Ed was informed that graduation was to be on that date and all of the class had to attend. The Secretary of the Navy was to give the address since this was the first class to be called up from the Reserves. Well, they changed the date to May 24th and were able to make all of the arrangement including sending out notes about the change of date---and then the Secretary was not able to attend and someone else read his address. For the wedding they had to do some miracle makeup on Ed’s face because a day or so before the wedding while in the role of a baseball catcher working behind the plate for a professional baseball picture who had been called to duty at a game on base, Ed missed a fastball that hit him on his nose square between his eyes. The doctor was able to make adjustments to realign the nose but the challenge for the wedding was to hide the two large black eyes. They managed very well as the wedding photo of the handsome couple included here shows. When at the base in Quantico Ed and Arline had privileges to any and all facilities on base and Ed decided he had to ride a course so they tried riding in a huge corral (Arline’s first experience). They were in the corral when a horse outside the corral three his rider and jumped the fence and charged into the corral. Ed went to Arline’s horse and grabbed the reins. The horse charged right up the center and stopped when it came to their horses. Arline asked Ed: “How did you know what to do?” and Ed replied: “ I didn’t” Arline presumes that Parris Island is much better now. Then 2/3 was salt marsh. The first time they ate at a restaurant a roach appeared on the table, walked in and out of the sugar bowl and then disappeared. Ed purchased a radio at the PX and on opening it in

their room roaches scurried out and into the walls. An apartment they were able to rent was a former plantation home built on stilts. When they were successful in getting rid of the bugs they went downstairs, and when the downstairs tenants got rid of the bugs, they returned to the upstairs. When Ed was stationed at Camp Lejeune, the Government had just purchased it. The men lived in tents. They were fortunate to rent an apartment over a garage (there were many such places there). One day they had snow and the water pipes froze. The landlord’s response to their predicament was to simply say: “it didn’t snow there.” But, the landlord was good to them and even introduced them to a southern drawl, grits and greens. While in California Ed and Arline experienced a small earthquake. While there was not much damage to their apartment, they did feel the earth shake. Because Ed was in an artillery unit, he was always stationed in the outer edge and here his unit was just across from a home belonging to Richard Nixon and the Marines were allowed to use the property on the beach and outside the home. When Ed was at Fort Sill they were fortunate to be able to rent a small home. The floors had to be waxed because of termites. The landlady lived next door and she examined those floors every week and yet they noticed several holes in the floor. Arline finishes with a tip for those readers who do crossword puzzles: “That four letter word for a city in Oklahoma is “Enid” and that is where they lived.

Base Locations: Quantico, Virginia

Parris Island, South Carolina Camp Lejeune, North Carolina

Camp Pendleton, California Fort Sill, Oklahoma

[And the Brockport College and Community have been blessed for many years because Ed and Arline Stephany chose Brockport, New York as last base.] [Note: Arline reports that because the University of Rochester had so many of its graduates called upon by the Defense Department, it established the Naval ROTC on campus in 1947.]

A special thank you to Arline Stephany, a special lady, for sharing this information and these photos with us.