STEPHEN E. DILLON, LT, USN
Stephen Dillon '17
Lucky Bag
From the 1917 Lucky Bag:
STEPHEN EDWIN DILLON, Jr.
Hot Springs, Arkansas
"Lou" "Steve"
SHADES of night! You may not know it, but this man thinks he loves the women! Periodically, for four years, he has been changing the picture on the locker door, and each time he assures us with that quizzical smile of his that the end is not yet.
In spite of his amorous nature, Lou Eye is quite an athlete, and no squad of Dick Glendon's would be quite complete unless he were on it, wearing blisters on his what's that? Certainly not. On his hands I started to say, when you interrupted me. Ever since Plebe year he has been making the huskies on the first crew pull their heads off, and he was only prevented from making the first crew by a slight falling out with his Academic books. He should turn the trick this year.
Another one of his fortes is the sport of changing other people's maps at the gentle art of self-defense. He is one of the best we have in the light-heavy class, and he has a wallop that makes it easy for his opponent to get a "fix" by star sights.
As we said before, he isn't much with his Academic books, but when the prof can't make the motor run at a Juice P-work, Lou Eye can usually give it the once over, and tinker with it a minute or two, and, presto! she do!
He has a fund of original ideas and some of his productions make Edison look like a rank amateur.
Lou takes to argument like an Eskimo to gum drops; the less he knows about a subject, the better, for then there are no facts to worry about. You ought to see him and Limy go to it.
All in all, Lou is a royal, good scout, and you don't have to investigate his family tree to find that out. If the whole world knocked as little as he does, the Hammer Trust would go out of business.
Buzzard; Crew Numerals (4, 3, 2); Bugle Corps (4, 3, 2); Mandolin Club (2).
The Class of 1917 was the first wartime-accelerated class, graduating on March 29, 1917.
STEPHEN EDWIN DILLON, Jr.
Hot Springs, Arkansas
"Lou" "Steve"
SHADES of night! You may not know it, but this man thinks he loves the women! Periodically, for four years, he has been changing the picture on the locker door, and each time he assures us with that quizzical smile of his that the end is not yet.
In spite of his amorous nature, Lou Eye is quite an athlete, and no squad of Dick Glendon's would be quite complete unless he were on it, wearing blisters on his what's that? Certainly not. On his hands I started to say, when you interrupted me. Ever since Plebe year he has been making the huskies on the first crew pull their heads off, and he was only prevented from making the first crew by a slight falling out with his Academic books. He should turn the trick this year.
Another one of his fortes is the sport of changing other people's maps at the gentle art of self-defense. He is one of the best we have in the light-heavy class, and he has a wallop that makes it easy for his opponent to get a "fix" by star sights.
As we said before, he isn't much with his Academic books, but when the prof can't make the motor run at a Juice P-work, Lou Eye can usually give it the once over, and tinker with it a minute or two, and, presto! she do!
He has a fund of original ideas and some of his productions make Edison look like a rank amateur.
Lou takes to argument like an Eskimo to gum drops; the less he knows about a subject, the better, for then there are no facts to worry about. You ought to see him and Limy go to it.
All in all, Lou is a royal, good scout, and you don't have to investigate his family tree to find that out. If the whole world knocked as little as he does, the Hammer Trust would go out of business.
Buzzard; Crew Numerals (4, 3, 2); Bugle Corps (4, 3, 2); Mandolin Club (2).
The Class of 1917 was the first wartime-accelerated class, graduating on March 29, 1917.
Loss
Stephen was lost on November 1, 1920, from injuries he sustained the day before when he dove into a water tank aboard USS Dolphin (PG 24) during a "crossing the line" ceremony. He was flag aide to Rear Admiral Henry Francis Bryan.
Other Information
From researcher Kathy Franz:
Born in Missouri, Stephen went by his middle name Edwin. In 1912 he attended Staunton Military Academy in Virginia.
He was appointed to the Naval Academy in 1913 by Senator Joe T. Robinson.
In June 1914, his parents were guests of Stephen at the Naval Academy’s graduation ceremonies. They also attended the farewell ball and the german, a social event including a complex dance given by the naval boys.
Stephen’s summer cruise was on Idaho, and when she reached Gibraltar, the government sold the ship and Mississippi to Greece. The midshipmen then sailed on other vessels to complete the cruise.
Stephen married Roberta Vaughan Kennedy in Manhattan on November, 26, 1917. She was an aspiring actress from Arkansas who had just completed her first silent picture “The Call of Her People” with Ethel Barrymore and filmed by Colombian Pictures. Stephen and Roberta had visited friends with his parents in 1916.
Their daughter Virginia was born in late 1919. In January, 1920, the family lived in Philadelphia with his mother-in-law. After Stephen’s death, Roberta was manager of an antique store in Hot Springs. She later married William Latta from Arkansas and moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Stephen’s father, Stephen Edward, was general manager of the Hot Springs public utilities. Formerly, he was chief clerk to the superintendent of the Rose of the Iron Mountain railroad. Stephen’s mother was Hannah.
He was survived by his wife and one-year-old child; Stephen is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
The "Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps" was published annually from 1815 through at least the 1970s; it provided rank, command or station, and occasionally billet until the beginning of World War II when command/station was no longer included. Scanned copies were reviewed and data entered from the mid-1840s through 1922, when more-frequent Navy Directories were available.
The Navy Directory was a publication that provided information on the command, billet, and rank of every active and retired naval officer. Single editions have been found online from January 1915 and March 1918, and then from three to six editions per year from 1923 through 1940; the final edition is from April 1941.
The entries in both series of documents are sometimes cryptic and confusing. They are often inconsistent, even within an edition, with the name of commands; this is especially true for aviation squadrons in the 1920s and early 1930s.
Alumni listed at the same command may or may not have had significant interactions; they could have shared a stateroom or workspace, stood many hours of watch together… or, especially at the larger commands, they might not have known each other at all. The information provides the opportunity to draw connections that are otherwise invisible, though, and gives a fuller view of the professional experiences of these alumni in Memorial Hall.
January 1920
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