Goochland mourns Charles Alvin Stephens Sr., longtime DuPont mechanic and Army Reservist

Charles Alvin Stephens Sr. was the kind of Goochland man people could picture in several places at once: on a tractor, at the store at the end of the driveway, or across the river at Spanky’s place. He died April 12 at 74, leaving behind a life tied to the county’s roads, its volunteer fire service and a farm where family and friends gathered for his final remembrance.

Stephens was born April 8, 1952. His celebration of life was held April 18 at Calvary Chapel in Goochland, followed by a graveside burial service at Greenwood Memorial Gardens off Route 6 and a memorial gathering later that day at the family farm at 5250 River Road West. A visitation had been held the day before at Norman Funeral Chapel.

For nearly 40 years, Stephens worked as a mechanic at DuPont Spruance, one of the region’s most durable industrial employers. DuPont says the Spruance site has operated since 1929 and is its largest manufacturing site; a Virginia Economic Development Partnership profile says the Richmond-area plant, along the James River, makes products including Tyvek, Nomex, Kevlar and Zytel. That long tenure placed Stephens inside a work force that helped anchor the area’s industrial economy for generations.

His service extended well beyond the plant. Stephens served in the U.S. Army Reserves and on the Board of Directors as #4 Fife Auxiliary representing CO 4, a local role that tied him to Goochland County Fire-Rescue Station 4/Fife at 2397 Hadensville-Fife Road, north of Route 6. Goochland County Volunteer Fire-Rescue Association says the county has five fire stations and 170 volunteers, a reminder that the people who show up for local emergencies often know one another from church, work or family connections.

Stephens is survived by his wife, Brenda Leavitt Stephens, his son, Charles A. Stephens Jr., and wife Elizabeth, and his grandson, Oliver Joe Stephens. The obituary also named deceased relatives Olie Stephens and Jean, Hazel Abernathy, and Whitney and Garland Stephens. In a county of 24,727 people, his life reflected the small-circle reality of Goochland itself, where a family farm on River Road West and a fire station off Route 6 can be part of the same remembered map.