My mentor and friend Stephen Stokes

I was going through old pictures on my computer and I found this. The man in the picture with me is Stephen Stokes. Stephen died on 1 July 2016. At the age of 67 many feel he left this life much too early. I have been heartbroken since finding out. He taught at my university for decades. He had influence on everyone with whom he interacted. I took every one of his classes. There is not one person who didn't love this man. His classes were usually on what he called "the dirty underbelly of society", he taught social problems (which includes prison, drug abuse, poverty, pornography, rape and so on), drugs and society, race and ethnic relations, and a few others. I learned as much in class as out of class.  He was a teacher and a friend. He was so compassionate. He taught me the importance of kindness.

I was really sick my first time taking one of his classes, I ended up missing close to a third of the classes. I made sure to communicate the situation to him. Participation was a very important part of his classes, though it didn't effect your grade. He gave four tests and a paper, in every class, every semester. At the end of the semester, I was worried I was going to ruin my GPA. In order to maintain my GPA I needed to get an 80% on the last test. After expressing my concerns, the final test grade was released; though I was convinced I had failed the test, I managed to pull an 80.1% . Knowing this was completely impossible, I stayed after class for answer review. There were questions marked correct that were wrong. We met in his office after class was over and I asked him why he did it.
 Stephen Stokes said," You have enough to worry about with your health, you don't need something else to worry about. I know you know the material. Just focus on getting well." That kind of mercy is not common in an academic world.

After that semester I would meet with him frequently to discuss my future plans with my education, social problems, and all kinds of sociological. Those lunch meetings were one of my favorite memories of college. Being able to learn from him was easy, his quiet and easy going manner encouraged even the most stubborn student to have a desire to learn.

I know his family misses him. And I feel bad for all the students who won't have the opportunity to learn from an amazing man.