GEORGE C. STEVENS, LTJG, USN
George Stevens '47
Lucky Bag
From the 1947 Lucky Bag:
George Clifton Stevens
Quincy, Massachusetts
When Jock breezed into the Academy from Andover, he was quite disappointed because he couldn’t play hockey. However, lacrosse was the nearest thing that we had to hockey, and he began a two-year hitch on the varsity squad. Though you couldn’t accuse Cliff of being too romantically inclined, the abundance of his sugar reports and his dazzling damsels made us all envy him. He had a way of getting things done, and his tenacity in solving probs paid dividends in his fine scholastic record. We will always remember his round and ready opinions as good medicine for anyone’s troubles.
The Class of 1947 was graduated in June 1946 due to World War II. The entirety of 2nd class (junior) year was removed from the curriculum.
George Clifton Stevens
Quincy, Massachusetts
When Jock breezed into the Academy from Andover, he was quite disappointed because he couldn’t play hockey. However, lacrosse was the nearest thing that we had to hockey, and he began a two-year hitch on the varsity squad. Though you couldn’t accuse Cliff of being too romantically inclined, the abundance of his sugar reports and his dazzling damsels made us all envy him. He had a way of getting things done, and his tenacity in solving probs paid dividends in his fine scholastic record. We will always remember his round and ready opinions as good medicine for anyone’s troubles.
The Class of 1947 was graduated in June 1946 due to World War II. The entirety of 2nd class (junior) year was removed from the curriculum.
Biography & Loss
From researcher Kathy Franz:
Born in Milton, Massachusetts, George was a graduate of the Phillips Academy at Andover and was commissioned an ensign in 1943. His yearbook nicknames were “Cliff” and “Kicko” with his activities listed as varsity hockey and captain his senior year, lacrosse 3 years, football 2 years, athletic council, choir and glee club, P. A. Police, house proctor, deputy housemaster, and head waiter.
He attended the Naval Academy graduating in 1947 and then spent three years on a destroyer before entering the naval air forces. He was stationed at the San Diego Naval Air Station when on a routine flight his F4U Corsair crashed just over the border in Mexico. His wife Mary and one-year-old daughter Deborah lived in nearby Coronado.
Military rites were said for him on September 30 in the Bethany Congregational Church in Quincy, Massachusetts, where his mother lived. His mother Mary, Mrs. C. R. Gunnerson remarried after George’s father died in October 1931. His father owned a trucking business and died of a heart attack. His step-father was a manager of a cork insulation company. George’s sister was Audrey, Mrs. Paul K. Fisher, Jr., of Montana. George’s name appears on the Korean veteran monument at the Mount Wollaston Cemetery in Quincy where his father was buried.
From the Oakland Tribune on September 21, 1951:
San Diego, Sept. 21 (AP) — A Navy fighter pilot was killed when his plane crashed across the Mexican border, about 15 miles south of here, yesterday.
Pacific Fleet air headquarters identified him as Lieut. (jg) George Stevens, 26, who had been in the Navy eight years. He was on a routine flight from the San Diego Naval Air Station in an F4U Corsair.
Stevens, who leaves his widow and a year-old daughter at Coronado, Calif., was the son of Mr. and Mrs. C. R. Gunnarson of Quincy, Mass. He was a 1943 graduate of Phillips Academy at Andover, Mass.
Memorial Hall Error
George is not listed with his classmates in Memorial Hall. This omission was discovered by researcher Kathy Franz.
George is one of 29 members of the Class of 1947 on Virtual Memorial Hall.
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