Mark “Tucker” Stevens
Dec. 31, 1940 – Oct. 29, 2014
Tucker Stevens was a “Hi, neighbor!” kind of guy who made every place he lived and worked better by his having been there. Until his dying day, Tucker combined his educator and instigator talents to encourage everyone lucky enough to have known him to do and give the most they could, whatever the goal or cause.
Tucker’s life journey ended Oct. 29, 2014, at Providence hospital, his family by his side, when he could not be revived from a totally unanticipated collapse a few days earlier.
Tucker’s life journey began in Norwalk, Conn., Dec. 31, 1940, the start of a happy New Year for his parents. A move to Florida was followed in 1945 with a move to Santa Barbara, Calif., where he and his older brother George enjoyed what they called “a great growing up.” It was here that Tucker would acquire his lifelong friends. Santa Barbara reunions were among his favorite things.
Tucker graduated from Santa Barbara High School where he and John Eickert, his classmate and childhood friend, could not resist the call of the surf. Tucker loved all water sports and served for a time as a Carpentaria lifeguard before he and John formed the first Santa Barbara surf shop. They called it Ike and Tuck.
Tucker worked lots of odd jobs so as not to interfere with surfing. He finally determined that if he taught school, he would have the summers free to surf, so he obtained a teaching credential in history from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He taught first at a small elementary school near Ojai and became a top-rated teacher. He loved kids equally as much as surfing and moved quickly through the school administration ranks, becoming principal and then superintendent of the Santa Paula School System, where he educated and inspired for 20 years.
Just out of high school, Tucker married Kathryn Waters Stevens, a buddy’s sister he had known since she was 14 and a surfer in her own right. When the marriage dissolved, Tucker and Kathryn married others, began their careers, created families and did not see each other again until 27 years later, when they remarried and spent 22 years together. Their blended family includes Tucker’s sons Chad, Joshua, Michael and daughter Elizabeth, and Kathryn’s son and daughter, Jason and Katie. Although Dad was a name Tucker loved to hear, it was hearing, “Grandpa T., can you tell us one more joke?” from Sophia, Sam, Giselle, Madison, Noah, Cole, Finn and Caitlin that made him smile the most.
When Tucker retired in 2000, he and Kathryn moved to Langley on Whidbey Island in the Puget Sound area of Washington to be near Kathryn’s parents, Bob and Ethel Waters. Here, Tucker was a substitute teacher, president of the Langley Community Club for 13 years, a leading force in local initiatives including The Soup Box Derby to support a local soup kitchen, and founded and funded Generation Park so kids would have a place to play. He also served his community as a Civil Service commissioner, a member of the Historic Preservation Commission, a Hearts and Hammers house captain and on the city’s Parks and Open Space Commission. Making life better for others and especially children was his lifelong cause. Tucker was a very successful friendship forger. His smile and enthusiasm were infectious. As the self-appointed “president” of the Langley Men’s Club, Tucker saw to it that he and his buds burnt a lot of brats every Friday afternoon.
Most recently, Tucker was honored and loved by his community when in true Tucker fashion he entered a local fundraising competition in hopes of winning the title of Mr. South Whidbey. His friends cajoled him in a skit based on the Ralph Edwards-hosted TV show, “This Is Your Life.” By the end of the evening, Tucker knew that even though a life well lived has it’s own rewards, sometimes its nice to hear the thunder of applause.
A celebration of Tucker’s life will be held in Langley, Wash., Saturday, Nov. 15, with a paddle-out memorial set in Santa Barbara sometime in 2015.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Langley Community Club for the playground replacement program, P.O. Box 32, Langley, WA 98260 or Good Cheer Food Bank, Langley, Wash.
