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Thank You, Lonnie! Lonnie R. Stephenson retired Jan. 4 after seven years as international president, capping an extraordinary nearly five-decade career that took him from Rock Island, Ill., to the heights of American power. The International Executive Council unanimously selected Secretary-Treasurer Kenneth W. Cooper to replace him. Sixth District International Vice President Paul Noble was appointed secretary-treasurer. The question at the beginning of Stephenson's connection with the IBEW in the mid-1970s wasn't how high he would rise but whether he would even be let in the door. Stephenson almost went to college to become an electrical engineer. A chance conversation with an IBEW electrician performing a service call at the grocery store where Stephenson worked changed his path. That electrician told him he should apply for the apprenticeship program at Rock Island, Ill., Local 145, even though his chances of being selected were small because he had no friends or relatives who were members. Yet he was part of a 12-man apprenticeship class in 1975 and was initiated one year later. Nearly five decades later, he steps down with the IBEW a stronger, bigger and more secure union than when he was appointed president in 2015, having guided it through a period of unprecedented chaos and uncertainty. |
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