Stephenson Family Website

Randolph Field, San Antonio, Texas:

In June 1941, the Army Air Corps became the Army Air Forces. Randolph, original home of the Air Corps Training Center, was created when the facilities at Kelly and Brooks Fields were determined to be inadequate. It was named for Captain William Millican Randolph. Basic flight training continued until 1943, when the mission was changed to one of training flight instructors. It was renamed Randolph Air Force Base in 1948, and has always been a flight training base and is currently home to the Air Training Command. Many agencies are headquartered there and over twenty tenant organizations are also hosted.

Basic flying training at Randolph continued until March 1943, when the central instructors school took over. For the next two years, training instructors for the Air Corps's ground training and primary, basic and advanced flying training was the main mission. Randolph produced 15,396 instructor graduates from this course before it moved to Waco Field in 1945. When the central instructors school moved to Waco Field it was replaced by the Army Air Forces pilot school, which specialized in transition training for B-29 bomber pilots, copilots and engineers. Primary pilot training returned to Randolph from Goodfellow Field in December 1945.


James E. Stephenson. Birth: 14 SEP 1918 in Commerce, Georgia Death: 18 APR 1972	Shirley Orr Greer and James E. Stephenson. 1932 Grady Avenue Shirly a life long friend of Elizabeth Stephenson	As a camp counselor Jim, upper row right
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	Jimmy on 1924 Athens High Football team

As a young adult		In San Antonio, TX.
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Elizabeth with Jim's new puppy July 1940	Jimmy in N.C. Mountains May 18, 1941	In San Antonio, TX.

1962 at Boat Yard in England	1962 at Boat Yard in England	Jim on LeReve in the harbor at Foz

1962 at Boat Yard in Southampton, England		Sailed from Plymouth, England to Miami via Vigo, Spain; Lisbon; Las Palmas; Cape Verde; Barbados; St. Thomas; Nassau

Le Rêve (The Dream) sailing herself as Jim waves from the foredeck.	Jim on Le Rêve in the Clearwater, FL Marina	I had come to England in the summer of 1962 to fulfill an old dream. For many years I had dreamed of sailing my own little ship alone across the wide and sometimes wild Atlantic. My plan was to buy my little ship in England, sail across the English Channel and Bay of Biscay to Spain, then on to Portugal where I hoped to find the “Trades” which would carry us to the Canary Islands and across the Atlantic to the West Indies. All seemed so simple in the planning stage but as I boarded the Queen Mary with a one way ticket to Southampton I had the distinct feeling that I was acting the part of a complete idiot. After all, my experience was limited to a few outings across the bay on sunny afternoons in a homemade Blue Jay day sailer, and now I had the temerity to pit this vast store of knowledge against the Atlantic Ocean.; If this was not a case of the rabbit spiting in the hound dogs face, by what name shall we call it? Read more of this dream adventure, click here>>

Le Rêve at Las Palmas Gran Canaria October 1962 during Atlantic Crossing	Las Palmas Gran Canaria More about Las Palmas Gran Canaria	Las Palmas Gran Canaria Park today

Local Article	Atlanta Journal Article February 17, 1963	Clearwater Marina April 1963

Sue Sparks and Jimmy	Jimmy and Sue in Clearwater, FL.	Sue's sailboat







Sue Sparks and Jimmy were married on November 14, 1966.