Stanley Owen Stoner

For more than 75 years Stan lived a decent life, with no regrets. It all started on August 22, 1943 when he was born in Whittier, a suburb to Los Angles, California. He was named Stanley Owen Stoner by his father, Frank, because his father liked the initials SOS. Stan’s mother, Lovina, had no objections.

Stan grew up in Whittier and after high school graduation he attended a community college in Pomona, California where he earned an Associate degree in criminal justice. He married his high school sweetheart, Lealene and moved to Crescent City in the California Red Woods where he was a deputy sheriff for Del Norte County.

The Viet Nam War was ongoing and during a discussion with Stan’s younger brother Raymond, they decided to enlist into the army. They were together for Basic Training at Ft. Ord, California. After their training, Raymond was assigned to Germany and Stan was assigned to Ft. Devens, Boston, as a Military Policeman. Two years later, Stan was accepted to be a Special Agent with the US Army Criminal Investigations Command (CID) and was assigned to Viet Nam. The Tet Offensive was at its highest when he arrived. Stan investigated more rapes, robberies, murders, and drug crimes than he could have investigated in Crescent City. He quickly made promotion to Specialist 5; so, Stan extended another year in Viet Nam to gain experience.

After returning home in August, 1969, he attended California State University in Fullerton and earned his Bachelor’s degree in business management. He returned to the army as an officer and was assigned to Ft. Sheridan, Chicago. His son Prescott was born at the Great Lakes Naval Base. While at Ft. Sheridan, Stan attended Webster University and earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration and a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice. About a year later, he was assigned to Ft. Carson, Colorado Springs. Stan was a polygrapher by this time and his second son, James, was born in Colorado Springs. Stan subsequently took an assignment in Korea and was assigned as a polygrapher at Camp Casey located near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). A year later he opened a polygraph office in Uijeongbu (same place depicted by the TV MASH series). He traveled throughout Korea and Okinawa, Japan conducting polygraph exams. Following his two years in Korea he was assigned to Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri. In addition to his polygraph assignment at Ft. Leonard Wood, he was a general crimes team chief. His last assignment was in Germany as the Special Agent in-Charge of the Kitzingen, Germany Resident Agency. He retired during June 1990 with the rank of Chief Warrant officer Four.

For seven years, while in the army, Stan taught criminal justice classes for Central Texas College. After retiring from the army he moved to Kansas City and began his second career working for the Kansas City Police Department as their first civilian managing the polygraph section. Four years later he attended the police academy and transferred to the airport police. Stan retired as a police sergeant during May 2004. While working for the airport police, he developed his own private investigations business and had contracts with several federal government agencies; namely, the CIA, DoD, National Security Agency (NSA), IRS, US Postal Service, ICE, and Customs and Border Protection.

Stan’s wife Lea died in January 2006. He remarried in March 2009 to Linda.

For nine months, Stan was a driver for Swift trucking. Driving a big rig was on his bucket list. On a couple occasions Linda joined him on trips across the county, mostly to the southeast and Golf states.

During May 2017, Stan underwent open heart surgery to bypass four arteries and to replace the aortic valve. Stan was forced to completely retire.

Now that he was completely retired he spent his time doing major reconstruction on his home, making furniture, and anything else involving wood working and home landscaping. Stan enjoyed helping his sons with their home improvement projects, and going on vacations; mostly to Branson, Missouri; Sedona, Arizona; and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Stan was very involved with the Veterans of Foreign Wars. For several years he was the post service officer and quartermaster at the VFW post in Gladstone, Missouri.

Stan is survived by his wife, Linda; son James and wife Jennifer; stepdaughter Laura and Andrew Gore; 4 grandchildren, Eli and Cheyenne Stoner and Daniel and Julia Gore.

He touched many lives and will be dearly missed. He never met a stranger.

Services will be held at Northland Cathedral Church on Tuesday, November 14th. Visitaion at 2pm and services at 3pm.