William Russell Stevenson

Mr. William Russell Stevenson, 65, Maury County teacher and resident of Porter Circle, died Tuesday, June 12, 2007 at Maury Regional Hospital. A memorial service will be conducted at 2 p.m. Thursday at Riverside United Methodist Church with Rev. Gary Wedgewood officiating. The family will visit with friends following the service at the church. Memorials may be made to Riverside United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 392, Columbia, TN, 38402 or St. Luke United Methodist Church, 606 Santa Fe Pike, Columbia, TN 38401. Notes of sympathy may be sent to the family at www.oakesandnichols.com. The Maury County native was the son of the late John A. Stevenson and Ladye White Stevenson. He attended Santa Fe schools and graduated in 1960. He attended Middle Tennessee State University where he graduated with a BS in Education in 1963 and received his Master's Degree in 1966. Continuing his education beyond his Master's, he obtained a Plus 45 credit. He was an educator in the Maury County School System for forty-two years and touched the lives of three generations of Maury County 5th graders, primarily at Spring Hill Elementary School, as well as Cox Middle School and at the new Marvin Wright Elementary School. He loved nature programs and went the extra mile in recording and showing illustrative shows to teach science to his students. His science students consistently scored extremely high marks on the science section of the state tests. His students knew from day one that he expected them to "rock the test!" He was a champion ping pong and tennis player. He was affectionately known by his younger tennis adversaries, whom he regularly beat, as the grandfather of tennis. Survivors include his wife, Reba Sewell Stevenson of Columbia; son, Robert Alexander Stevenson; daughter, Sandra Stevenson; grandson, Robert Matthew Stevenson; brother, John White (Dalys) Stevenson; nephew, Michael James Stevenson, sister-in-law, Molly Sewell (Bill) Ammons; niece, Marnie (Ted) Johnson; great-nephew, Hardin Johnson; great-niece, Carolina Johnson; mother-in-law, Alberta Sewell, cousin, David (Cheryl) Williams; and numerous other cousins and extended family. A special thanks to Dr. Taylor Rayburn, Dr. Amit Choksi, Dr. Gibran Naddy, the CORE Physicians Group, the Caris Group and all the extraordinary caregivers at Maury Regional Hospital.