Obituary of Thomas Ray Stephens

A Few of My Favorite Things… • My Family! My wife, my sister, my kids, all of my beautiful grandkids, I love you and am so proud to call you my family. For all our friends, you became extended family and I love you • A love for Food – Mazatlan and their guacamole, biscuits and gravy, BJ’s root beer, potato salad, banana pudding, chocolate covered strawberries, coconut cream pie, nutter butters, and peach ice cream are just a few • Diet Dr. Pepper, Sweet Tea, Margaritas, and Mazatlán’s Pina Coladas • Hunting, fishing and shooting with my boys, family campouts and road trips • Playing the guitar, Singing and dancing, especially Alleyoop, Home in Glory Land, Elvis Presley and Red Sovine • 4th of July…I love the family BBQ & the Fireworks! Wheeling and Deeling with all my friends from the Muckleshoot, I’ve traded lawn mowers, guns, and even vehicles for fireworks • Buying and selling cars and houses, and recruiting everyone to help me with it • Christmas Shopping, Carols & the Lights, love icicle lights, and cruising Spanaway lights • Dressing up for Halloween, eating the candy (especially Milk Duds and 3 Musketeers) and passing out candy to all the cute kids in costumes • Telling stories and joking around, especially love to tell embarrassing stories • I love movies, taking the kids to the movies, if you call me and I’m in the movies you’re a priority and I’ll always answer the phone. I love for old Westerns, Sci-Fi, and Kung Fu movies (even the old ones before the lips matched the words) • Love to go shopping with the kids and then tell them “You got my style!”; love spoiling them • Thanksgiving and all the food that goes along with it (especially stuffing and gravy), but if you bring a dish, be prepared for my critiquing…and watch out for me eating too much sugar • Leaving really long voice mails…often with a song and I love you included • Disney World and Disney Land, especially the Pirates of the Caribbean ride • Above all, I love my Wife…my world, my heart, my soul To our Dad, our Grandpa, our Brother and our Friend...here are just a few of the infinite things we will always love about you… • We love how you made everyone feel special, loved, protected and a part of your family whether they were family by blood, or by bond • We love every story you would tell and how proudly you spoke of your loved ones • We love your fun spirit and the joy you would bring to us all with your singing and dancing • We love that we could call you anytime for anything, and no matter the news, you would be happy to hear from us • We love how you taught us to care for others and how to love unconditionally • We love how you would always enjoy our company and teach us to enjoy one another • We loved your exquisite food pallet…for even though you were picky - you always knew what you liked and the entire family enjoyed great food for it • We loved that when you would sing to us, you would call us Daddy’s Girls • We love that anyone could count on you as a Dad, even if they weren’t your child by birth • We love all that you taught us about working on, and taking care of cars • We love the memories of our countless hunting, shooting, and camping trips • We love you for encouraging and honing our musical and dancing talents • Your girls love you for your love of fashion • We love how hard you’ve always worked to keep everyone provided for, happy, and together • We love your playfulness and all the times you would allow your grandkids to give you manicures and make-overs • We love and are in awe of your ability to make friends, and keep friends for a lifetime And most of all, we love how you loved us unconditionally