Russell Stevens Papers, 1945-1950

Abstract

"Judge Russell Stevens, a retired Federal Judge for the National Labor Relations Board in San Francisco, died at peace at the age of 92 after living a full and rewarding life. He married Oleta Kloehr in 1936 and together they went to Hawaii and started building their lives together. They were living and working in Waikiki when WWII broke out on December 7, 1941. They left the Island soon after so Russell could enlist in the Navy and pursue learning the Japanese language. He was accepted at the Japanese Language School at the Univ. of Colorado after being inducted into the Navy. After 15 months of study, he spent approximately 5 years in the Marianas Islands as a Japanese interpreter of prisoners, among other things. In 1946, he moved the family to Yap Island, while working for the USCC; and in 1947 moved back to Boulder to attend Law School, and then for one year lived in Deland, Florida while he studied for the Bar Exam and worked on a number of high profile cases. In 1950, the family (now including a son, Doug, and daughter, Joan) moved back to Hawaii for about a year and then settled in Guam from 1951-1957, where Judge Stevens had a private law practice, served as Attorney General, and wrote and had published 2 books about Guam’s history. From 1957 to 1958, they lived in San Diego while he worked as Purchasing Manager for Solar Aircraft Co. One year later, he received a job offer as a judge with the US Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa). The position lasted from 1958-1966 and his knowledge of the Japanese language was a perfect fit for his working with the Okinawan judges, who spoke little English. In 1966, he and Oleta moved to Seattle, WA to be closer to their grown children. His position was Western Region Counsel for the Dept. of Commerce. For a short time in 1972 he was employed as an Administrative Law Judge for HEW and then moved to San Rafael in 1973 working as an ALJ for NLRB. In 1986, upon retirement, he and his wife moved to Fallbrook, CA where he successfully grew over 100 fruit trees. In July 2009, because he was suffering from severe dementia, he was moved to a memory care unit about 15 miles from his daughter. His wife Oleta had passed away in February 2003 and his son unexpectedly passed away in September 2009. He is survived by his daughter, Joan Tolentino, 4 grandchildren who live in KS and AZ, and 7 great grandchildren."

Source: The US Navy Japanese/Oriental Language School Archival Project The Interpreter December 1, 2013. http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/archives/collections/jlsp/interpreter190.pdf