TULSA, Okla. — James Thomas Stevenson, retired owner of Yale Cleaners, Tulsa, died here May 25 at the age of 87.
He was born Aug. 10, 1927, in Broken Arrow, Okla., to William Coffman and Tommie Josephine (Johnson) Stevenson. He began working for a dry cleaner at age 14, graduated from Broken Arrow High School in 1946 and married Betty Lou Peterson in June of that year.
With backing from his father, Stevenson built and opened his first dry cleaner, Arrow Cleaners, in downtown Broken Arrow, a Tulsa suburb, at the age of 20.
It was January 1959 when Stevenson and brother-in-law Barney Bebout purchased Yale Cleaners. When Bebout retired in 1979, Stevenson invited his brother, Jerry, and son-in-law, Bill Rothrock, to join the family business. Stevenson retired in 1999, and today Yale Cleaners serves the Tulsa metropolitan area from a dozen locations.
Rothrock described his late father-in-law as a generous leader who “always ran things from behind the scenes and preferred to let someone else lead the parade.” Stevenson prided himself on honesty and “doing the right thing,” he adds.
Stevenson was proud of Yale’s participation in drycleaning organizations such as the Varsity Group (which was by invitation only), the Marketing Concepts 12, and another group organized by veteran operator and consultant Stan Golomb, Rothrock says.
He was also a “big supporter” of drycleaning industry trade associations, Rothrock says, and was a past president of the Oklahoma Dry Cleaners Association.
Among Stevenson’s survivors are his wife, Betty; daughter, Judy Rothrock; son, Jim Stevenson; sisters, Verna Bebout and Edna Jo Stegal; brother, Jerry Stevenson; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Memorials can be made to The Oklahoma Baptist Children’s Home, 12700 E. 76th St. N., Owasso, OK 74055.
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