Just thought about Charlie today, 3/1/24 and read his obituary.  Sorry I missed his funeral. 

I had the opportunity to work and car pool for a while with Charlie while working at Southern Bell in the mid 70s.  I worked in the main central office in Jacksonville while Charlie maintained N-Carrier toll lines to the other parts of northeast FL. 
Also visited a few times at the shop behind his house where he repaired TV’s.  

Great Guy & Great Memories!

Larry Altman

I’ve known Steve (Charlie) since I was 10, when he and his family moved in next door, and professionally at Southern Bell.  I think he is the kind of guy that teaches a kid like me how to grow up to be a warm, kind, sharing neighbor who upholds the illusion to an impressionable kid like me that ALL dads are loving, caring, steadfast fathers and husbands,  a certainty that makes a kid in his neighborhood feel safe in this world.   You grow up and learn the world is not so safe, so it makes me feel lucky to have been reared in such a neighborhood.
    Later, Steve  gave my new wife and I our most cherished gift—a little chocolate puff of fur that warmed our lives for 16 years.  Tug of war with a sock evolved into tug of war with a frizbey, to catching the frizbey, to catching a whistling frizbey well past when he went blind.  (The Boo Bear made history at Atlanta’s Emory hospital’s experimental lab for laser cataract surgery). Meanwhile, Steve extended the life of our old decrepit hand-me-down black-and-white vacuum tube TV set WAY beyond its expected service life. 
    Years later, when my job was capacity management at Southern Bell, Steve was the only craftsman that could help me in a pinch.  Steve was the only guy in northeast Florida skilled in N2 and  N3 carrier.  This technology was essentially FM radio with 24 channels over copper wire.  Every four miles it was amplified to connect rural community dial offices like Maxville and McClenney, to downtown Clay Street.  You might remember those amplifiers on the road side:  they looked like white refrigerators. [  I pointed one out to Carolyn and said “that’s a Bell repeater cabinet.”  She replied, “A peter cabinet?  What a great idea and a wonderful service for Ma Bell to offer!” LOL.  ]  Anyway,  Steve kept all those cabinets humming and all the N3 carriers running flawlessly, and  fired up more capacity when I ran out.  
I’m out of space:  I loved and miss him.

I will miss you uncle Charles, RIP. There are only good memories of you. Love you


Charles was Best man @ our wedding in 1983 he and Gene were very close. He was a Hard core Republican! Loved his family. He and Gene could tell some unique stories of growing up in Tennesee. He use to like for me to cook scallop potatoes. I cut his hair for over 20 years. Im
gonna miss him even more now, altho wed been estranged since Genes passing. I knew he was just down the road if i needed him. RIP Charles

I recall our family visiting Uncle Charles in Jacksonville. I have fond memories of shooting pool in the garage. I had never tried boiled peanuts nor hush puppies until he introduced them to me. 

He seemed a kind and caring man. Rest in peace, Uncle Charles. 

I remember him very well, as a kind man and he was always nice to me .  He always spoke and was friendly. 
He really was always nice to all the kids in the neighborhood. 

I remember seeing his Southern Bell truck at his house and knew that he worked for the phone company , which was pretty cool to me. 

I just want to say how sorry I am for his passing and I send my condolences to all of the family .       
sincerely,      John Nobles  





Mr. Stephens will be greatly missed. He was always very kind to me through out the years.  He had such a wonderful & warm personality & would light up a room when he walked in.  Rest in peace Mr. Stephens!

OBITUARY

Charles Orvel Stephens

June 18, 1930 – June 26, 2019

Hardage-Giddens Riverside Funeral Home & Riverside Memorial Park

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