Levi Stephens

Levi Stephens was born in Sault St. Marie, Mich., on Dec. 11, 1979, with big blue eyes and a great big smile. He was raised in Columbus, Ohio and in Burnet, a small town near Austin, Texas.

Levi died May 4, 2006, at home at 487B Westcott Drive on San Juan Island. The cause of death was not immediately determined.

Levi loved to travel. He came to Friday Harbor in summer 2001 on a float plane from Seattle and only had planned to stay three days. The first day he was here, he was offered a job with R&B Construction as a landscaper/framer. His previous experience had been manager of Dinato’s Pizza and manager of Big Lots furniture store in Ohio. Levi discovered his passion was hard labor and stayed for three years with R&B, where to this day he is like family to them.

In 2003, Levi fell in love with his best friend, Julie, and her son, Taylor. They became engaged in Mazatlan on June 4, 2004, after being together for one year.

Levi then decided to take a break from hard labor and became a wonderful line cook at Jimmy’s Paradise Cafe. Levi was very close to the people he worked with there as well. He missed construction work and went to work for M&M Construction.

Levi was known to be a great father. He went to school functions, attended policy council meetings for Head Start, donated money to the Elementary School PTA and, most important to him, was a volunteer assistant coach for his son Taylor’s T-ball team, the Dodgers. He was a strong, sweet, loving man who always thought of other people’s happiness above his own. For that reason, he was respected by many.

Levi was very patriotic at heart. Instead of joining the armed forces to help out his country, he was a licensed lifeguard, was certified and licensed in adult and child CPR, became a Red Cross volunteer during the time of Hurricane Katrina, and was a blood and marrow and organ donor.

Levi’s dream was to become a smoke jumper/firefighter who would jump out of airplanes into forests to stop fires from spreading further and to save people and wildlife who had no way out. He wanted to be a hero for his son; if he only knew how much of a hero he really was. God bless you, Levi, we will miss you.

Survivors of Levi Stephens include his fiancee, Julie Sedrick, and his son, Taylor Sedrick, of Friday Harbor; father, Ron Stephens, serving in Iraq; brother Aaron Stephens and grandmother Helen Swartz, of Austin, Texas; mother Judy Stephens, grandmother Pat Saunders, sister Misty Stephens, and nephew Chris North, all of Columbus, Ohio; aunt, Nancy Saunders, of Florida; cousin, Amanda Saunders, attending the University of North Carolina; aunt, Zoe Saunders, of Seattle, Wash.; loving friends, Jesse, Liz, Rick and Deb, Dave and Debbie, Bree and Sal, Don, Ally, Donno, Greg, Bob, Brian, Jill, John, Joleen and Mark, Kelly, D.J., Joe, Trevor, Charlie, Ommie, Jeff and Diane, and many more.

A memorial service will be held on May 20, 2 p.m., at 487B Westcott Drive, San Juan Island.

There is a memorial fund for Levi Stephens at Islanders Bank as well as donation jars around town. Levi’s family thanks the community for all of its support.

— The Levi Stephens family