Charles N. “Chick” Stephens, 73, passed peacefully at his home in Cary on July 1, 2020. Charles was born in Tulsa, OK in 1946. During his childhood he moved frequently but spent the majority of his youth in Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arizona, and Arkansas. After graduation from Rogers (Arkansas) High School in 1965, Charles joined the Army where he served in Germany. After his time in the service, he graduated from the University of Arkansas and went on to pursue a master’s degree in history at Wake Forest University.
While at Wake Forest, Charles began a lifelong career of assisting individuals with Developmental Disabilities. For a time, Charles directed DD services for Richmond County, North Carolina. During the 1980s, Charles ventured into business with his best friend, and together they built North Carolina’s first ever Intermediate Care Facilities for this population. Within a year they had provided homes outside of institutions for over 500 individuals. Charles and a small group of partners went on to build a group of companies that provided care to thousands of individuals with developmental disabilities and behavioral health conditions from North Carolina to Arizona.
Charles was also instrumental in developing and growing the local hockey community. During the late 1990s he founded a youth hockey organization, the East Coast Eagles. He was also an avid fan of the OU Sooners college football team.
Charles is survived by his daughter Kylie Roy, his son-in-law Matthew Roy, his grandson Brooks Roy, his brother John, his nephews Frank and Nick and his cousin Jean Jones Shipley.
To honor his memory, the family is requesting donations be made to the Carolina Hurricanes Foundation (https://www.nhl.com/hurricanes/community/foundation/financial-contributions) or MiracleFeet (https://www.miraclefeet.org/donate). For donations to MiracleFeet, please email [email protected] to indicate that your online gift is in memory of Charles.
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