Obituary of Aaron T. Stephens

Aaron Thomas Stephens was born January 13, 1982, in Columbus, Ohio to Gary Eugene and Nancy Kindlespire Stephens. He was the second of four children. In his early years, he lived in Ohio, Alabama, and Iowa.

He loved art from a very early age he would draw on anything including his jeans and his desks at school and any paper he could find. He had a strong passion for comic books. He was inspired by several artists growing up including Brian Michael Bendis, David Mack, and Jack Kirby. He loved Spiderman and considered him his hero. He loved wrestling, he lettered three years in wrestling, three years in track, and two years in football in high school. He was a supporter of the Iowa Wrestling Club, he wanted to help girls wrestling grow. He enjoyed silly humor his laugh was contagious and always made us all laugh with him. We enjoyed hearing him crack up at the silliest of jokes.

He was an animal lover, he adopted bunnies, Pandy and Eve, for his daughters. They were not his pets he was their caregiver. He loved our childhood dog Bear and enjoyed playing with him outside and running around the yard.

After his teenage years, he went into the military at the age of 24. His training concluded at Fort Sill in Oklahoma. Later, he went to jump school to prepare as a paratrooper. Afterward, he was deployed to Bamburg Germany where specialized as a radar repairer. He served two tours in Afghanistan. He got one of his wishes while being deployed in Germany and that was to travel. He was able to travel to Paris and to London on holiday.

During his military service, he started a long-distance relationship with Leah Matthews. A year later he married Leah and had two beautiful girls Gwendelyn Marie and Isla Leanne. His girls were inspired by his artwork and encouraged their interest in exploring different forms of art. His girls were his whole world, he was unwaveringly devoted to them. He loved to take them to the children's museum, to the zoo, to the waterpark, to the trampoline park, and spoil them with treats. Whatever craft supplies the girls wanted and would sit down and do it with them.

He studied psychology at the University of Iowa to understand the way the mind works. He wanted to uncover the flaws in the system to help his father. He struggled with addiction himself and wanted to work in art therapy.

Aaron was loving, kind, caring, and forgiving, he had a big heart and wanted to help everyone. He was loved by many. He will be missed. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to a memorial fund for his girls.

Please join Aaron’s family for a Memorial service on Saturday, September 23, 2023, at 1:30 pm, at the North Liberty Community Center – 520 W. Cherry Street, North Liberty, Iowa.