From The Oak Ridger 20 Aug 2004 Ernest Raymond Stevens, 82, Elizabeth Kelly Johnson, 46, of Oak Ridge, Ernest Raymond Stevens, 82, died Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2004, in his home in Oak Ridge. Born Sept. 4, 1921, in Altoona, Pa., he was the son of Charles and Lora Mae Stevens. Known as "Ernie," he was a man with many stories to tell and most of them true, according to his family. At birth, "Ernie" was named Ernest Stefanelli. His father was an Italian immigrant coal miner and his mother was a New Englander with a family lineage tracing back to some of the earliest British settlers in North America. When he was 7, the family changed their name to the "American" Stevens and moved to New York City, where his father took a job helping to dig a New York subway tunnel. Many of his stories revolved around his life in New York as a pool hustler, tailor's assistant, and amateur boxer. After receiving a bachelor's degree in business administration from The College of the City of New York, Stevens entered military service during World War II and served as a staff sergeant in the Army Air Corps. For a time, he served in Washington, D.C., where he supervised a pool of secretaries. It was there that he met and instantly fell in love with Bertha Mae Miller, who had recently taken a job in the secretarial pool after winning a typing contest in her rural Kansas hometown, the family said. Ernie and Bert, as she was called, were married Sept. 12, 1943. According to the family, they remained lifelong soul mates until she passed away in 1990. Following the war, Stevens took a job as an auditor with Arthur Andersen in New York and quickly worked his way up to managing audits for several high-profile accounts. He later held executive positions at Mobil Oil, Detroit Controls of America Standard, and Northern Indiana Brass Co. In 1968, Stevens suffered a near-fatal gunshot wound when he was shot in the face by a drive-by sniper firing upon motorists on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The fighter in him helped him pull through the ordeal and many grueling operations needed to repair the damage, his family said. In recent years, Ernie lived in Oak Ridge to be near one of his daughters and two of his grandsons. His parents, a brother, and his wife preceded him in death. He is survived by two daughters, Kim Smith, of Oak Ridge, and Vicki Osowiecki, of The Colony, Texas; four grandchildren; and a sister, Alice Brown, of Bristol, R.I. The family will receive friends from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 4, 2004, in the home of Jim and Kim Smith, 123 Brentwood Drive, in Oak Ridge. An online guest book can be signed at www.martinoakridgefuneralhome.com. Elizabeth Kelly Johnson, 46, of Oak Ridge, died Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2004, at The University of Tennessee Medical Center at Knoxville. The family requests that any memorials be in the form of donations to the First United Methodist Church, 1350 Oak Ridge Turnpike, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. The address was incorrectly listed in Thursday's edition. =========================================== SUPPORT OUR TROOPS---FLY THE FLAG "Genealogy is like playing hide and seek. They hide I seek!!! www.byrge.com/genealogy/ Searching: BYRGE/BUNCH/DAUGHERTY/DUNCAN/KENNEDY/ PATTERSON/PHILLIPS/SEIBER/TACKETT/WARD