George E. Stewart

George E. Stewart, 80, of Romance, passed peacefully from this life on March 3, 2011. Born Nov. 6, 1930, in Bodcaw, Ark., to Alice Hannah Hodnett and John Riley Stewart, he grew up in the Boston, Massachusetts, area and in Patmos, Arkansas, where he joined the Boy Scouts and attended Patmos High School. In 1948 he moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he lived for a brief time with his mother and sisters before joining the U.S. Navy. A veteran of the Korean Conflict, he attended boot camp in San Diego and served active duty as an aviation electrician on the aircraft carrier USS Boxer, surviving a direct hit on the ship. Upon discharge from the Navy, he attended college on the GI Bill, earning a B.S. degree in Business Administration from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He then joined the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, eventually becoming a Special Agent with the Criminal Investigation division of the Internal Revenue Service. During the 1970s and early 1980s, he was briefly a film actor, appearing in several features produced and directed by Arkansas native Harry Thomason, including "Encounter With the Unknown," "So Sad About Gloria," "The Great Lester Boggs," "The Day It Came to Earth," and the television mini series, "The Blue and the Gray." After retiring from the IRS in 1984, he began his second career as a private investigator, working on behalf of various law firms in Little Rock, as well as the legal counsel for the Clinton White House. He was also a faithful Christian, serving as a deacon of the Mabelvale Church of Christ near Little Rock and as an elder of the Downtown Church of Christ in Searcy. A beloved father and grandfather, he is survived by his wife of 58 years, Bobbie Payne Stewart; two sons, Tim Stewart (Sharri) of Romance and Scott Stewart of Denver, Colo.; three grandchildren, Jared M. Stewart, Seth L. Stewart, and Hannah J. Stewart of Romance; a nephew and four nieces. He was preceded in death by father, John Stewart of Woburn, Mass.; his mother, Alice Stewart; two sisters, Johnnie Lou Page, and Rhoda Petty, all of Las Vegas. Visitation will be March 7 at 11:30 a.m. at the Beebe Church of Christ, followed by a commemoration service at 1 p.m. Memorials may be made to Southern Christian Home in Morrilton or the Searcy Children's Home in Searcy. www.westbrookfuneralhome.com.