Phillip Joseph Stevens

With the passing of Phil Stevens the world has lost a kind and generous man. We never heard a harsh word from him. He was deeply devoted to his wife, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, his two brothers, and our entire extended family. At the same time, he was dedicated to his professional endeavors and philanthropic pursuits. Our Dad filled our home with positivity. An unwavering optimist, he viewed any setback as an opportunity to discover an alternative approach to success. He never gave up.

He is survived by his loving children, Gregory Stevens and his wife Ivy Macia-Stevens, Kimberly Carpenter and her husband Blake Carpenter, and Sherri Stevens. He is also survived by his five cherished grandchildren, Rosalie Yeager (Dave), Jackson Stevens (Jocelyn Taylor), Kerry Carpenter (Danyelle), Lila Noffsinger (Ken), and Chris Carpenter (Natalie); as well as ten adored great-grandchildren.

Phil wrote the following obituary in 2021 to save us any “inconvenience” upon his passing.

Phillip J. Stevens was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Joseph and Mildred Stevens. He had two brothers – his younger brother, Clarence, and an older brother Murray, now (both) deceased.

He attended Woodrow Wilson High School in El Sereno, California. Following graduation, he attended the University of Redlands on an athletic scholarship. After completing his sophomore year at Redlands, he transferred to UCLA where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering in 1951, and later, his Master of Science degree in Engineering.

After graduating from UCLA, he began his professional career at Hughes Aircraft Company as a missile development engineer. Shortly after graduation from UCLA, he met a UCLA coed named Joan Scudder, who became the love of his life and the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. After a whirlwind courtship, they were married on December 6, 1951. They began their marriage with a savings of $10; however, Phil wasn’t concerned because he knew he had a paycheck at Hughes waiting for him when he returned from their honeymoon. Their first child of three children was named Gregory, followed by Kimberly, and then Sherri. To Phil, his family was the most important thing in his life. He was married to his precious wife, Joan, for 67 wonderful years before she passed away in 2018.

Phil had three completely different and highly successful careers. His first was that of a missile development engineer. In his second career, he was an entrepreneur who developed an engineering and construction company, called ULTRASYSTEMS, a company that he grew from a one-man operation into a $155,000,000-a-year publicly-held corporation. In his third career, he created and developed a charitable non-profit, called the Walking Shield American Indian Society, to help improve the lives of our nation’s Native Americans as a tribute to his Sioux heritage.

In his first career that spanned 18 years, he participated in the development of the FALCON air-to-air missile at Hughes Aircraft Company, where he served as the Head of the Rocket Engine Design Group. When the nation began to develop a solid propellant Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, he joined TRW Systems, where he rapidly advanced to become the Director of the Air Force’s MINUTEMAN III ICBM. For his “managerial excellence and technical leadership”, he received the U.S. Air Force Ballistic Missile Commander’s Award, as well as the U.S. Air Force’s Outstanding Achievement Award.

After completing the development of the MINUTEMAN III missile system, he decided to start his own engineering company, called ULTRASYSTEMS. As an entrepreneur, he grew his new company into a significant engineering corporation that served the nation in the development of military satellites and missiles, as well as the development of civilian power plants that generated electricity for the nation’s power grid. In this second career, he served as the Founder, President, and CEO of ULTRASYSTEMS for a period of 18 years, after which he sold his company and founded the charitable non-profit organization, called Walking Shield.

In his third career as the leader of the Walking Shield Foundation(walkingshield.org), he worked with the Department of Defense to transfer more than 1,000 excess military houses to Native American reservations where they provided much-needed homes to more than 6,000 homeless and needy Native American families. He also arranged for the Department of Defense to send military doctors and nurses to the nation’s Native American reservations to treat more than 124,00 sick and needy people. For his volunteer service on behalf of our nation’s Native Americans, he was presented the Presidential Medal for Volunteer Service by President William Clinton.

In lieu of flowers, please send any donations to the Open Medicine Foundation for research in ME/Chronic Fatigue, an illness that currently affects his grandson.