James Glenn Stephens

It is with great sadness that Venice lost one of it’s pioneers. Glenn died on May 16, 2024, at the age of 92. He is survived by his wife Janice (married 71 years), his children Michael Stephens, Marcia and Mark Krivonak and Mindy Sichling. 4 Grandchildren, Christopher and Sherrie Stephens, Scott Sichling, Sara Rebhan and Chris Rebhan, Nikki and Donald Prunty . Along with 8 Great Grandchildren. Glenn was born on June 8, 1931, to Dewey and Madeline Stephens in Venice Florida. He had 2 sisters Dorthy Sapp, Virginia Jones, a brother Robert Stephens and a son Mark Stephens that all predeceased him. Glenn’s family moved to the Venice area in the late 1800’s and were part of the history that shaped the small fishing village to what it is today. They homesteaded and grew up at the end of Hauser Lane where he had a sizable garden growing his own vegetables. He graduated from Venice-Nokomis High School in 1949, participated in all sports (baseball and basketball) and started working for the Venice Post office the same year. He spent 38 years with the Post office at various positions from Supervisor to Rural Letter Carrier, his favorite position where he could be out on the route with all his customers. In his earlier years he devoted his time to the Boy Scouts, coached Little League and Girls Miss Softball America. He trained as a volunteer fireman before the city had paid fire fighters. He participated in the Baptist Disaster Relief organization that went out and did clean up from Hurricanes. He was proud to call himself an old timer and volunteered his time to organize the Old Timers Picnic for residences living in Venice before 1950. The Stephens family were some of the earliest members of the First Baptist Church where he spent a lot of time volunteering for whatever needed to be done. But his favorite was teaching Sunday School to the 4-year-olds who called him Mr. Glenn. As a deacon he helped shape the policies and procedures, but his proudest accomplishment was traveling to Haiti and Jamica to help build churches and do mission work. As a dad, he was a true Floridian and would take his children camping and fishing. Visitation will be held at Farley Funeral Home, Venice, on Wednesday, May 22, 2024, from 5-7 pm. A funeral service will be at First Baptist Church in Venice on Thursday, May 23, 2024 with burial to follow at Jesse Knight Cemetery in Nokomis. To share a memory of Glenn or to leave a condolence visit www.farleyfuneralhome.com.