Robert Francis Stone; Longtime Educator

Robert Francis Stone, a former assistant superintendent for the Ventura County Community College District and longtime educator, died Saturday at Community Memorial Hospital. He was 83.

Stone was born Aug. 1, 1913, in Lockeford, Calif., near Stockton, and grew up in the area.

While working on his associate of arts degree at Modesto Junior College, which he earned in 1934, Stone played quarterback for the semiprofessional Stockton Shippers football team.

“He played for $5 per game in the Depression,” said his son, Thomas A. Stone, of Nevada City.

Stone’s prowess at football quickly earned him a spot on the team at San Jose State College, where he played quarterback for two years. He graduated from San Jose State in 1937 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry.

Stone studied at the College of the Pacific in Stockton for two more years, where he earned a master’s degree in 1939. After finishing college in Stockton, he coached the football team at San Jose High School and taught math and physics at schools in the city until World War II.

In December 1942, Stone enlisted in the Navy and was enrolled in the anti-submarine warfare school. He later became an instructor in the art of submarine warfare and served for a year as a naval advisor to American forces in occupied Japan.

After the war, Stone resigned from the Navy, having attained the rank of lieutenant commander, and returned to civilian life, teaching math and physics and coaching football in San Jose.

By 1952, Stone had earned a doctorate in education from USC. He then began working for the California Department of Education as a legislative advisor and supervisor, guiding the construction of schools throughout the state that would one day comprise the California State University system.

In 1963, Stone moved to Ventura and took a job planning facilities for the Ventura County Community College District.

“All he did for the first year was build Moorpark College,” Thomas Stone said.

Stone retired from the district in 1973, having reached the position of assistant superintendent. In 1981, he was elected to the district’s board of trustees, serving one term before withdrawing from public life to spend more time with his family.

“He was always doing something,” Thomas Stone said. “He never sat still very long.”

Stone was an active member of Ventura’s service organizations for 32 years, including the Ventura Shrine Club; Al Malaikah Shrine, Los Angeles Temple; Elks Lodge 1430, and American Legion Post 339. He was also a 32nd Degree Mason, past president of the Ventura Breakfast Lions and the Ventura Retired Business and Professional Men’s Club, former director of the Ventura Women’s Club, and a charter member of the Poinsettia Lodge No. 633.

Stone is survived by two sons, Thomas and R. Dudley Stone, of Chico; a sister, Mary Green of Concord; five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. His wife, Dorothy Mae Stone, died in 1986.

Services will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Ted Mayr Funeral Home, 3150 Loma Vista Road, Ventura. Interment will follow at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in Ventura.

Arrangements are under the direction of the Ted Mayr Funeral Home.