Kevin Daniel Stewart, a standout athlete at Ceres High School before his graduation in 1970 and the sole recipient in the school’s Inaugural Hall of Fame for the class of 1970, died at his home in Manchester, Tennessee on Nov. 24.
Active in high school football, basketball, baseball and track, Kevin went on to play football at Modesto Junior College and at New Mexico Highlands University where he was awarded a football scholarship.
Stewart was born in Ceres on Sept. 27, 1952, the son of Ima Jean Ruth Stewart and Rev. Phillip Harland Stewart. He was raised in the Central Valley where his dad was an Assembly of God minister and a plasterer. Kevin attended Ceres schools graduating from Ceres High School in 1970.
Kevin married his high school sweetheart Judith Ann Smith on May 20, 1972 and they had two sons Joshua in 1972 and Jacob in 1978. Mr. Stewart spent his career as a plasterer and built his own business which followed him when he moved his family from California to Oregon, Arkansas, Texas and Tennessee. He was a man of strong faith who loved his family, God, sports and fishing.
He leaves behind his wife of 49 years, Judy Stewart; sons Josh (Dora) and Jake (Jamie); his father, Rev. Phillip Stewart; his brothers and sister; his grandchildren, Emily (Jacob), Kacy, Joshua and Max; and his great-grandchildren, Ella, Hudson, Addilyn and Porter. He was preceded in death by mother, Ima Jean Stewart, brother David Luke, and grandson Jacob Jr.
A funeral service was held on Friday, December 10, at the chapel of Central Funeral Home in Manchester and burial was in Rose Hill Memorial Gardens in Tullahoma, Tenn.