September 2, 1922 – June 29, 2018 Calvin James Stevens, 95, passed away peacefully at the home of his son, Cal Stevens, and daughter in law, Maurine Stevens in Liberty, Utah.  He achieved his last wishes, to be at home and in his own bedroom and to have as normal a life as possible, as he prepared to leave this mortal life.  His beloved wife, Linnie, died May 23, 2018 in the same bedroom.  He attended her viewing the day before her funeral but became ill very quickly that evening and was hospitalized.  He was so ill that he was unable to attend Linnie's funeral the next day.  Following his hospitalization he was admitted to the Mt Ogden Rehabilitation Center.  After trying to do what was needed to recover for a few days there, he was just not responding well enough to continue, so he was brought back home to complete his journey back to his Father in Heaven.  After Linnie was gone he just lost his will to live.  He was deeply loved by his family and they tenderly cared for him during the final days of his mortal existence.  He will be greatly missed by them.  He was a long time resident of Orem, Utah but moved in with his son and daughter in law Maurine, along with his beloved wife of 75 years, Linnie.  They moved from Orem a little over a year and a half ago due to Linnie's illness and their age. He was born September 2, 1922 in the house of his maternal Grandmother, Louisa Krogue in Bloomington, Idaho to Rayford Roswell Stevens and Verona Dunford Stevens.  He was the Second of five children.  There was Calvin and two brothers and two sisters.   He married the love of his life, Linnie Emily Adkins, August 17, 1943 in the LDS Salt Lake City Temple.  Linnie had difficulty in pregnancy but they were blessed with one son, Cal and a daughter, Gail, who died five and a half hours after her birth in 1951.  Calvin graduated from Fielding High School in Paris Idaho in 1940.  He took an apprenticeship for the Union Pacific railroad as a telegraph operator.  After his apprenticeship he had several assignments and then was assigned to Kemmerer, Wyoming.  Linnie was also a telegraph operator working at the opposite end of town from where Calvin was working.  They met each other and made that first blind date over the telegraph.   They were both engaged to someone else at the time but things changed immediately after that first date.  They were together from then on through thick and thin, for nearly 75 years.  It was to be a never ending love story. They had to separate for a very short time after Linnie left us but they are now happily reunited, together for eternity. Calvin was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and a long time member of the Orem Suncrest 1st Ward before moving to Liberty.  He served in many positions in the church and had served as an Ordinance Worker in the American Fork Temple. Calvin was driving to Montpielier Idaho in 1941 to pick up a date when he heard that Pearl Harbor had been bombed by the Japanese.  He knew that his life was about to change drastically as WWII began for the USA.  Because he was a vitally needed telegraph operator for the railroad, he had been given two deferments by the Army but he decided that he just needed to do his part and in December of 1943 joined the Army in the war against Nazi Germany and Japan just 31 days after being married to Linnie.  Calvin was assigned to the Army Air Corps.  He was trained as an aerial gunner on a B-17 bomber and assigned to the ball turret position (Belly Gunner).  Prior to deployment to England, Calvin and Linnie lived in Dyersberg Tennessee where Calvin went to Aerial Gunnery School.  He was then assigned to go to Deenethorpe England.  The crew assembled there, was assigned to the 614 th Bombardment Squadron of the 8 th Air Force and the crew decided on the name they would give their brand new B-17 bomber.  It would be "Maiden USA".  They then began a long series of harrowing combat missions against Nazi Germany.  One of these missions was to bomb German V1 rocket or "Buzz Bomb" launching sites near the Baltic Sea and it was particularly harrowing.  They had to fly for a total of 12 hours across the English Channel, France, Poland, Norway and Switzerland to get there and back. It was between 50 and 70 degrees below zero outside with nothing but thin aluminum and their flight suits between them and those brutal temperatures.  They were exposed to German anti-aircraft fire and possible enemy fighters all the way.  They delivered their bombs on target but they were badly damaged in the process.  They barely made it back, had no radio contact because their radio was damaged.  They thought they were going to have to bail out and ditch their aircraft in the English Channel but the pilot changed his mind at the last minute.  They had to land at an alternate airfield far from their home air field because their brakes had been shot out and their home runway was way too short to land the big bomber.  They were listed as missing in action by the war department for a time before they were able to make it back to their home base.  It is good that they did not have to bail out because Calvin later learned that his parachute had been ripped to ribbons by a piece of flack when they opened and inspected it.  After Calvin and his crew completed 35 combat missions they were able to return to the good old USA. Calvin was back from the war but was still in the military.  Calvin and Linnie bought a little 16 foot house trailer to live in.  It was small and cramped but at least they were back together again.  They lived in Santa Monica California, Laredo Texas, Heman Oklahoma and Ft Myers, Florida.  Calvin served as an aerial gunnery instructor.  Calvin and Linnie endured many hardships during this period of time just so they could continue to be together.  This would be a pattern for the rest of their lives.  They always put their marriage and family first and did everything they could to be together in whatever they did. After the war Calvin decided that he wanted to be a barber and he and Linnie moved to Salt Lake City, Utah so he could attend Barber College.  After graduating from Barber College they moved back to Kemmerer, Wyoming and continued to live in their little house trailer while Calvin served an apprenticeship for a master barber there.  Their son, Cal, was born during this time.  Calvin got a chance to go to Wallace Idaho as a barber so they lived there for a time.  The scenery was magnificent but they decided that they did not want to raise their family in such a small mining town.  They returned to Salt Lake City where Calvin went to Carpenter School and learned many skills in the trade but returned to barbering in Salt Lake City.  Calvin wanted to have his own barber shop so he found an opportunity to buy a barber shop in Provo, Utah in 1956.  They had lived in several trailers since that first little 16 footer but finally sold the last one in 1956 and bought a home in Orem, Utah.  Calvin and Linnie continued to live in Orem until they had to move to Liberty, Utah for the last year and a half of their lives. Calvin used his amazing ingenuity and skill as a carpenter to design and build many mind boggling inventions to make their lives better.  Calvin and Linnie loved to travel and camp.  Calvin and his family spent as much time as possible traveling in their various camp outfits enjoying the beauties of God's creations.  This love of camping was passed on to Cal and Maurine's family and together they made many great memories, loving and enjoying each other as they experienced these adventures together. Calvin loved motorcycles.  He learned to ride when he was so small that his dad and older brother, Paul, had to hold the motorcycle up while got straddle of it, give him a shove to get him going so he could ride it around and then back to them to catch him when he stopped so it wouldn't tip over. He continued to own and ride motorcycles until he was in his mid 80's. Calvin loved Jeeps.  His dad used a converted WWII Jeep to plow and farm his crops in Bear Lake Valley instead of a tractor and Calvin learned from that how much he loved 4WD and Jeeps.  At last count, he had owned something in the neighborhood of 38 Jeeps over his lifetime. Calvin was a true patriot who loved his country and gave up much to defend it.  He was much loved by many people.  He was loved by his family, his neighbors and friends.  He, like his wife, was a gentile soul who tried to make everyone's life a better and happier place and he will be greatly missed by all who knew him. Calvin was proceeded in death by his parents, Rayford and Verona, a daughter, Gail, three siblings, Paul, Fred and Lena, a granddaughter, Tamii and his wife, Linnie.         He is survived by his son, Cal Stevens, his daughter in law, Maurine Stevens, 3 grandchildren, 9 great grandchildren and 2 great great grandchildren.  Funeral services will be held Monday, July 9th, 2018, at 11:00 am at the Liberty Ward Chapel, 4279 N., 3300 E., Liberty, Utah.  Friends and family may visit at the Liberty Ward Chapel relief society room, 4279 N. 3300 E., Liberty, Utah  from 10:00 -10:45 am July 9th, 2018. Interment will be at Mountain View Cemetery, 5555 E. 2700 N. Eden, Utah with full military honors