Kim Arthur Stebbens

After a four-month fight with cancer, Kim Arthur Stebbens passed away at his home, surrounded by family and friends, on August 2, 2016. Kim is survived by his wife, LeAnn, son Cole, step-children Sloane and Owen, brother Alan, and a number of cousins, nieces, and nephews.A Celebration of Life service for Kim was held at the Blue Water Distillery, owned by John Lundin, a good friend of Kims. It was attended by many of Kims family and friends from all walks of life, including a large contingent of Kims IIS teammates at Microsoft.Kim was born in Amarillo, TX, in November 1957, the younger of two sons of Air Force NCO, Wayne Stebbens and his wife, Patsy. Kims young life was as an Air Force brat, which meant moving every three or four years until he went to college. Kims family lived in Turkey, Tacoma, WA; Andersen AFB, Guam; Sacramento, CA; Upper Marlboro, MD; and then Omaha, NE, after which Kim moved to College Park, MD, where he started college at the University of Maryland. Throughout their travels, Kim and his brother spent many summers, and some Christmas holidays, on the family farm in Buffalo, OK, learning at an early age how to work hard in caring for cattle, sowing and growing wheat, and fixing whatever was broken each week. Partly because of the frequent moving into new or unfinished homes, and partly because of the need for self-reliant farm work, Kim learned early on how to do many things: carpentry, plumbing, electric wiring, welding, auto and tractor engine maintenance and repair, driving, and game hunting. In junior-high and high-school, Kim pursued Boy Scouts becoming an Eagle Scout by 10 grade, the accomplishment of which required many merit badges, including woodcraft, cross-country navigation, wilderness survival training, etc. In college, Kim studied and excelled at computer science, and learned TCP/IP directly from Dr. Dave Mills, the inventor of NTP (Network Time Protocol). However, Kims college path was not the usual one-it was interspersed with long spans of time back at the farm to help with the work there and to help his father, whose health was failing, and other adventures. One such adventure included a 2750-mile bike trip from Montana up into Canada, then west to Vancouver, then down through Washington into Oregon, and then back over to Missoula, MT, through Idaho. Another adventure was ice-climbing on Mt. Washington with a friend, during which they discovered the frozen body of a less sussful climber, descended to find a Ranger, and then re-ascended with him to secure the body and help with its recovery and descent. Adventures took priority, but even without a degree, Kims computer knowledge enabled him to land a job as a student systems programmer at UMD, then as a software engineer at ACC, where he put his knowledge of TCP/IP to use in building the companys networking device products. Eventually Kim moved out west, to join his brother in Santa Barbara, where Kim found work at CMC, putting his now extensive knowledge of TCP/IP to use in making networking devices. After a couple of years at CMC, Kim moved north to Martinez, CA, where he worked on networking protocols on single-board computers. In mid-1990, Microsoft, having just made their famous Internet pivot, recruited Kim up to Seattle, to work on implementing TCP/IP networking in various versions of OS/2 and Windows. Soon, Kims programming skill and leadership ability were recognized, and he became a Development Lead, earning several patents in the process, and then becoming Manager of the Internet Information Server (IIS) Team.In the late 1990s, Kim began to exercise one of his long-held passions: sailing. He bought a 35 sailboat, and then 41 Sceptre sloop, named Hurricane, that he skippered in the Transpac Yacht Race from California to Hawaii-and won in his division. Later, Kim commissioned a custom-built 47 Catana catamaran, with which he had many sailing adventures, mostly in the Caribbean near the US Virgin Islands, and in Bonaire. During this time, Kim earned his Master of Sailing Vessel license, his PADI Dive Master license, a UC Coast Guard Masters license (of 100 tons or less), and an Emergency First Responder certification. In late 2000, Kim retired from a sussful decade at Microsoft. During this first retirement, Kim also toured many parts of the world, including an organized Hummer trip of several countries in South Africa, and a tour of many parts of Australia. When he and his then wife learned she was pregnant they moved back to Seattle and Kim unretired-taking a Vice President position at Marchex, which was the parent company of several Internet ad aggregation companies. Eventually, he and his wife divorced, but Kim remained a devoted father to his son, Cole.Late in 2009, he met his soulmate, LeAnn Ashford. They were recently married in a beautiful ceremony, led by a friend and minister from his Caribbean days, Bill Westman.In mid-2011, Kim resumed his boating passion by buying a controlling interest in ArrowCat Marine, where he became CEO and President of the company, which makes extremely s and fast power catamarans. As part of the proof of his companys boat designs, Kim, his business partner Rob, and friend, John, just recently completed a timed circumnavigation of Vancouver Island in one of the ArrowCat boats, setting the under 30 class Pacific Yachting Challenge record of 28 hours and 59 minutes without refueling.At the Celebration of Life service for Kim, many of Kims family, friends, former managers, direct reports, and colleagues shared their stories of their time with Kim. Almost all described Kim as intelligent, direct, ethical, passionate, sometimes argumentative, and always focused on Doing The Right Thing. Several of his former colleagues at Microsoft said that, when faced with a tough problem, they would often think: What would Kim do?Kim was also a quiet, caring father, a loving husband, a thoughtful, generous brother, good friend, and a lover of adventure. He will be sorely missed. Announcement: In lieu of cards or flowers, donations in Kims name may be made to two organizations he believed in and supported: href=https://www.kiva.org/Kiva, a Microfinance Company and href=http://www.scouting.org/Boy Scouts of America.