Clarence Albert Stephan

He succumbed to heart related issues in El Paso where he had gone for medical treatment near his daughter’s home. Due to other family medical considerations, a memorial service will be postponed until later in the spring.

Clarence Albert Stephan was born to a farming family in Lockney, Tx. on Aug. 3, 1942, the third child of Karl and Hildegard Stephan. He grew up in the Lutheran Church, speaking both English and German, happily climbed on a tractor at age ten and never had a question about what he wanted to do. He moved to Pecos County immediately after high school graduation in Lockney in 1960 and spent the rest of his life farming at Coyanosa, where his father had bought land a few miles east of the little community at the beginning of the 1950s farm boom, which was one of the largest areas of irrigated development in the country at that time. From age 12 he spent summers with his father at Coyanosa, living in a refitted cotton trailer, bathing in irrigation ditches and getting a unique look at the birth and boom of the area and the people it brought together in the closing days of the Bracero program. It was an eye opener for the shy, hardworking, church-going boy who was at least a decade younger than most of the producers, some of whom were hard-drinking men chasing fortunes rather than building futures.

Clarence said his dad told him that it didn’t matter how many four-bale cotton crops he managed to produce if he didn’t keep obedience to God, clean living and dedication to family as his lifelong goals. As family and friends agreed in future years, it was advice he took to heart when he decided to stay at Coyanosa to build his life based on faith, family and farming, for he was a kind, thoughtful and generous follower of Jesus Christ. Clarence was a strong man from the builder generation, a blessing to those who knew him, and he will be missed greatly.

Clarence married Teddye Kaye Coleman in Crane, Tx. on Sept. 2, 1967. They had a son, Kerry Shannon, in July 1969, and a daughter, Julie Beth, in 1975. The children grew up on the farm, where their parents continued to live until the present. All his adult life Clarence was active in the community through the Lions Club and Pecos County Farm Bureau. He served several terms as an ASCS county committeeman, 18 years on the Buena Vista School board, various water district boards and on the Red Bluff Water District board of directors.

He is survived by his wife of 58-1/2 years, Teddye, and son Shannon, both of Coyanosa; daughter Julie (Wes) Phillips of Horizon City, Tx.; grandson K.J. Stephan of Austin; granddaughter Shanda (Skyler) Aschenbeck of Denton, Tx.; sister-in-law Ruby Stephan of Coyanosa; nephew Clinton Stephan and niece Linda (Eric) Branham, both of Imperial, Tx.; and many loved ones of the happily extended family of Stephans, Colemans, Lambs and Phillipses.

He was preceded in death by his parents; brother Martin Stephan; sister Ruth Stephan; father-in-law Bob Coleman, mother-in-law Beth Coleman Lamb; brother-in-law Kerry Coleman; daughter-in-law Rhonda Petty Stephan; and nieces Wanda Stephan and Janette Wilhelm.