Robert “Bob” G. Stevenson, jr

Served with pride and dedication, USS Warrington DD-843 - Hospital corpsman Stricker; NAVHOSP, Greatlakes; NAVHOSP, Newport, RI; school of AVMED, Pensacola, FL; AVMED TECH, NAS GLYNCO, GA; NAS GTMO Bay, Cuba; USS Independence CVA-62; AEROSPACE MED TECH, Flight Test crew (Gemini & Apollo) NASA MSC, Houston, TX; NAS-NORIS CVS-23 & VC3); NAF cam RAHN Bay RVN; HM "A" School Instructor, NSHS, SD; Commissioned Physician Assistant; OIC at HM "B" School Director PA Training NSHS, SD; Ambulance Service Coordinator, SW Region, Training Officer, EMT Instructor, Medical Clinics, San Diego.

 

Robert (Bob) G. Stevenson, Jr.

Bob was born in Swampscott, Massachusetts, in 1939. He had an early interest in woodworking since he was old enough to play with his dad’s tools and build things out of orange crates. While a high school student at Essex County Agricultural Institute in Massachusetts, he inherited a Jointers chest full of well-used, but perfectly-preserved tools from mid 1800’s Scotland - his Great-Great Uncle’s tool chest. His Uncle was a church builder in upper New York State. This is what got him really interested in the history of woodworking tools and a great desire to use the tools. 

Before he ever got to use those tools, Bob joined the Navy in April 1956, and the Navy sent him to duty on the USS Warrington DD-843. After striking for Corpsman, he attended Corps School in Great Lakes Illinois, eventually being trained in Aviation Medicine and Aviation Physiology Training at Pensacola, Florida. His duties eventually took him to the USS Independence CVA-62, an aircraft carrier that was headed to Vietnam. While underway, he received orders to transfer to the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, TX. Bob was flown off the Independence on a mail plane to join 4 other Navy sailors in Houston for three years of special duty. They experienced some exciting times in the early days of the NASA Space Program at the end of the Gemini program and the beginning of the Apollo program: proofing the technology to keep the astronauts safe, riding on human centrifuges at Air Force, Navy, and NASA sites, testing instruments and space suits under various G Forces up to 16 G’s. He also found himself in a low-pressure chamber doing more tests while working in a full pressure suit and exposed to 10-6 TORR (a simulated pure vacuum). In addition to being test subjects, they provided medical support for astronaut training and other activities. After 3 years at NASA, he returned to the fleet – that meant a tour of duty at Naval Air Facility Cam Rahm Bay, Viet Nam.

Upon returning from Viet Nam, he was assigned Instructor Duty. After being trained and working as a Navy Instructor in Medicine, Bob was accepted into the Physician Assistant (PA) Program at Shepard Air Force Base. He practiced as a PA for many years at a variety of Naval Medical Facilities in Southern California eventually taking on the role of the Director of the Navy PA Training Program and Consultant to the Chief US Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery for Navy Physician Assistants at Naval Regional Medical Center, San Diego. Bob completed his tour of duty on staff at Naval Medical Clinic San Diego as a practicing Physician Assistant, retiring with 30 years of Service as a Chief Warrant Officer 4 in August 1987.

After leaving the Navy, he went back to school, transitioning from Medicine to Furniture Making. Starting with a Community College Furniture making program at Palomar College, as a student then as an instructor, he started a furniture repair business; Stevenson Classic Woodworking, and joined the San Diego Fine Woodworkers Association. The business and his skills evolved and he earned the respect as a master furniture maker earning the Society of American Period Furniture Makers Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. For 20 years he was the Coordinator of the Internationally renowned juried Design in Wood exhibition at the San Diego County Fair –, retiring in 2014.