Joseph Lawton Stenholm

Newport, - Joseph Lawton Stenholm, 82, of 79 Third Street Newport, died Monday, April 21, 2003 at Newport Hospital, Newport.He was the husband of the late Frances V. Anderson Stenholm. Born in Newport, RI on April 26, 1920, he was the son of the late Theodore M. and Mildred Lawton Stenholm.In his youth, Mr. Stenholm pursued a variety of occupations. He was a chauffeur, a Newport fireman, an antiques dealer, salesman/manager for Singer Sewing Maching Company, Sears Roebuck, Sherwin Williams Paint Company, and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. In the 1950s and 1960s he and his wife owned and operated a variety store on Spring Street in Newport. From 1965 until his retirement in 1985, he was employed as a custodian and school bus driver for the Newport School System. Mr. Stenholm was a 50 year member of St. Johns Lodge of Masons and a past Master, he had been at one time head of all the York Rite bodies and became a Kinght of the York Cross of Honor. He was a 32 degree Scottish Rite Mason of the Valley or Providence, a 50 year member of the Improved Order of Red Men, a member of Excelsior Lodge I.O. of O.F. and AFSCME R.I. Chapter 94, the Order of Odd Fellows, a Past Patron of the Order of Eastern Star, a member of the Coast Guard Auxillary and the Newport Artillery Company, the King House Senior Center, and the Point Association. He is survived by his daughter Cassandra E. Crandall and her husband David of Charlestown, RI, his grandson S. Sgt Aaron J. Arzamarski, and his wife Sondra of Rincon, GA. His funeral will be held on Friday, April 25, 2003, at 1:00 PM in the Memorial Funeral Home, 375 Broadway, Newport. Burial will be in Newport Memorial Park in Middletown. Donations in his memory may be made to St. Johns Lodge, #1, P.O. Box 3761, Newport, RI 02840 or to the Robert Potter League For Animals, PO Box 412, Newport, RI 02840.