Brother Atward Stennis was born September 14, 1934 in Gould, Arkansas to Jasper and Vashti Stennis. He had three siblings: Delonzo, Ethel, and Worthy. The family later moved to a small town called Douglas, where his father, Jasper bought a 90 acre farm and raised his family.
As his sister Worthy says, Bay (childhood nickname) took well to farm life. He enjoyed driving the horse team and plowing the grounds for planting and harvest time. "He was always the first to test the fruit-especially watermelons-and then tell us when they were ripe and ready to eat, after he'd had his fill." His favorite things were fishing and swimming with his brother and cousins. His best friend was his dog, Boss. Boss went everywhere with him, and when he got in trouble they had to put Boss outside before they could chastise Bay,
He gave his life to Jesus at an early age. And he became a member of Auburn missionary Baptist Church. He was a Sunday school teacher there. He played basketball in high school. After high school he went to AM&N College in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
He withdrew from college after his first semester, and joined the United States Air Force on Sep. 18, 1955. Brother Stennis made friends easily. On his first furlough he brought home a friend named Henry Booker, who remained his closest friend up until this day.
Brother Stennis married his high school sweetheart, Mary Catherine Harris in July of 1953. To this union, two daughters were born - Brenda and Beverly. Brother Stennis served in the Air Force for 28 years. During his time in service, he and his family travelled extensively in the U.S. and abroad, living in Seville, Spain and Tokyo, Japan.
After being stationed in Las Vegas, Nevada, he was honorably discharged on Sep. 30, 1983 as a Senior Master Sergeant and retired to Tucson, AZ.
He joined Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church and was a faithful member for over 30 years serving as a Sunday school teacher, Chairperson of the
Trustee Board and member of the Usher Board.
He loved his family very much, and cherished his only granddaughter Emanicole. As reflected by his daughter Beverly, there is one thing that people may find surprising about her father, "although he could be stoic and serious, he did have a humorous side. There was always-without fail-one thing we could do to make him laugh real loudly. He was extremely ticklish on the bottom of his feet! My sister, Brenda and I loved to hear him laugh out loud and squirm to get away, pleading for us to stop, when we tickled the bottom of his feet. Of course, I made his granddaughter aware of this too.'
Brother Stennis left this earth on July 20, 2020 at the age of 85 to join in Heaven his mother, father, brother, and daughter Brenda. He is survived by his
wife, Mary Stennis, daughter, Beverly Stennis, and granddaughter, Emanicole Porter-Stennis, sister Worthy Stennis-Dodson, and sister Ethel Stennis-Williams.
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