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(1868-1921) |
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Henry Matthew Stephens was born in Neosho, Missouri,
on January 4, 1868. His family moved to Renovo, Pennsylvania, where
he attended high school. He further prepared for his undergraduate
studies at the Dickinson-Williamsport Seminary. He entered Dickinson
in 1888 with the class of 1892.
Stephens was perhaps the leading athlete of his class. He played for six years on the football team as an halfback and end, three as a student and three while he was an instructor. He ran with the track team and won the hundred yard dash at the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Sports meet. He graduated in 1892 Phi Beta Kappa and began the studies that would eventually earn him his doctorate in science from Bucknell University in 1905. He also studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Marine Biological Laboratory. He joined the Dickinson College faculty as an adjunct professor of Physiology, Hygiene, and Physical Culture in 1895. He became adjunct professor of Biology two years later and in 1899 he was promoted to Professor of Biology. He served the science department until his untimely death. In 1900, Stephens had married Elizabeth Young Stuart of Carlisle,
Pennsylvania and they had one son, William Stuart Stephens who graduated
from the College in 1926. In January, 1921, Professor Stephens was
diagnosed with a parasitic blood disease, called at the time "sleeping
sickness," probably American trypanosomiasis or Chagas disease.
Though there was room for optimism that a person for his constitution could
survive the disease, he failed suddenly in early February and on February
5, 1921 - to the dismay of students and colleagues among whom he was very
highly regarded - he died. He was fifty-three years old.
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