I came upon this thread quite by accident having done a Google Search on Avalon Park School, my old elementary school. Clicking on this link, I immediately recognized Steve's name and was in total shock to learn of his passing.

    I too am one of those who knew him as Steve, years before he became Stevenson. We were in the same grade and home room. He was a very "mellow" fellow. Even as a kid he was friendly, open-hearted, inquisitive, talkative and never arrogant or argumentive.

    Though we parted ways since we graduated from elementary school, I have a couple memories of Steve I want to share that for some reason have remained dear to me.

    Our class was on a field trip to the Hillsdale Health Museum and it was a long bus ride in winter with little heat to keep us warm. This was around the time of the "British Invasion". Must have been 1964 and seventh grade. I recall a discussion about the Beatles and their long hair which was revolutionary at the time. We talked about copy cats like the Dave Clark 5 and Steve mentioned the Rolling Stones had even longer messed up hair and that the Stones, "looked like monsters".

    Another time, I believe it was after Christmas break, all of a sudden Steve's brown hair was BLOND! It seemed kind of strange in those days and everybody was wondering what was going on. Steve said that he was on vacation in some tropical resort over the holidays and the SUN bleached his hair!   To this day I don't know the REAL story!

    Although I haven't seen him in 40 years, I do feel at loss for a childhood friend. My sincere condolences to his other friends and especially his family. May God bless him and maybe we will see him again in the next life.

    Sam-Othman@excite.com