Asa D. Stevens

Asa D. Stevens, 96, passed on Sunday, February 23, 2020 at Presbyterian Manor of Arkansas City. 

Funeral services will be at 10 AM Friday, February 28, 2020 at the Shelley Family Funeral Home of Winfield. Interment will follow at the South Prairie Cemetery. No visitation is scheduled. Memorial contributions may be made to the Winfield First Church of the Nazarene.

He was born June 20, 1923 the son of Arch E. and Caroline Stevens in Ralston, IA. He grew up in a vibrant small town agricultural community with his brothers Donald & Charles Stevens.   One of his first jobs was to assist at Moorhouse Elevator, in Ralston scooping corn from horse drawn wagons, some hauling as much as 50 bushels. He stated the pay was about one dollar a day.

Asa graduated from Glidden HS in 1941 Employment being scarce, he traveled to the west coast seeking a job. After a while he decided to join the United States Merchant Marine. Expecting to join the war effort he found out the war ended the day he signed in. He traveled the globe during the post WWII years receiving an honorable discharge.

Asa moved to Wichita seeking work as a carpenter.  He met & married Martha E. Johnson of Wichita, in 1947; she preceded him in death in 1995. While living in Wichita, he worked as a finish & contract carpenter building and completing several houses.  Asa was a very social fellow who frequented many coffee shops & was well known & regarded in the trades’ community.

He was caring, generous & took to heart 2 Corinthians 11:19 “For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise.” He enjoyed playing the guitar & mandolin & joined various woodworking groups: showing, gifting & selling wood carved crafts & animals. His favorites were the Great Plains Wood Carvers, Wichita and the Cherokee Strip Wood Carvers, Arkansas City. His younger days included Kansas Free Masons and the Shriners. He especially enjoyed being part of the Hobo’s and participating in local parades giving candy to the kids.

In the late 1970’s he was employed by Wichita State University in the Building & Maintenance Dept., a job he really enjoyed prior to retiring in 1992.  At a dance, he met Tillie Hill who became his wife. They had many good years together and moved to Winfield to be closer to her sister. She preceded him in 2007. Asa married Ruth D. Barger in 2009, they later were in need of care that moved them to a care center as their health declined.  Ruth passed in 2018. 

Asa is survived by his nieces:  Connie (Johnson) Rogers (Cliff), of Florida and Pauline (Stevens) Salerno (Ed),and nephew Asa T. Stevens of  Iowa. Step-children: Dale Spoon (Kathy), Gene Spoon (Janet) of Winfield, Duane Barger of Arizona, and Cathy Smith of Oklahoma.  His good friend, Henry Hawkins (Janet) of Winfield, KS assisted with his care in the latter years.  The family is eternally grateful for Henry’s devotion to Asa’s well-being.

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