GHS-Faculty Principal Thomas Watts Stevenson, RIP

Thomas Watts Stevenson, 89, Chambersburg, PA, passed away Sept. 20, 2011 at The Shook Home in Chambersburg, PA. He was the son of the late John Stevenson and Vava (Head) Stevenson. He was born on a farm near Loch Lynn, Maryland, and was raised in Mountain Lake Park, Maryland. He was a resident of Garrett County, Maryland, until 1956. He was a 1938 graduateof Oakland High School and a 1942 graduate of Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. He studied at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and was awarded a Master of Education degree from the University of Maryland at College Park. He was a veteran of World War II, having served with the Army Air Corps from 1943-1946.

He taught for Garrett County Public Schools from 1946-1955, and then ultimately settled in Montgomery County, Maryland, where he was a teacher, administrator, and principal at Poolesville High School and Gaithersburg High School. He retired from Montgomery County Public Schools in July, 1975. He moved to Pennsylvania in 1988.
In his leisure time he enjoyed camping, hiking, fishing,spending time on the C&O Canal, and attending plays at the Kennedy Center, the Totem Pole Playhouse in Pennsylvania, Shady Grove Music Fair in Maryland, and the Garrett County Playhouse. He was a member of the Trinity Episcopal Church in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. He was active in the C&O Canal Association and Civil War Roundtable. He was a member of the American Legion in St. Thomas, Pennsylvania, and a past member of the Lions Club of Laytonsville, Maryland.
Survivors include his wife, Barbara (St. Clair) Stevenson; one son, Thomas Watts Stevenson, Jr., husband of Betty (Wynkoop) Stevenson, Greencastle; one daughter, Vava Claire (Stevenson) Schroeder, wife of Willard John Schroeder, Jr., Las Vegas, Nevada; four step-daughters, including Kimberly Shifler, wife of Jeffrey, Middletown, PA; Judith Snyder, wife of David, Chambersburg, PA; Cynthia Betz, wife of Terry, Chambersburg, PA; Amy Diehl, wife of Tony, Chambersburg, PA; one brother, Robert Head Stevenson, husband of Martha, Damascus, Maryland; four grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; twelve step-grandchildren; and eleven step-great-grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his two sisters,Kathryn (Stevenson) Helbig and Dorothy (Stevenson) Stahl; two brothers, Mahlon Stevenson and John Stevenson; and one step-grandchild, Lauren Betz.
Services were private. Memorial contributions can be made to the C&O Canal Association, P.O. Box 366, Glen Echo, MD, 20812; or the Garrett County Historical Society, 107 S. Second St., Oakland, MD 21550