Col. Benjamin Roark, G7 director for U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa, escorts Patrizia Stephenson out of a memorial service April 16, 2026, at Caserma Del Din in Vicenza, Italy. She is the widow of Russell Evan Stephenson, an Army veteran and civilian worker who died earlier this month at age 58. (Chad Garland/Stars and Stripes)
VICENZA, Italy — Dozens filled an auditorium at the heart of Caserma Del Din to pay their respects Thursday to an Army veteran who “touched many hearts on many continents” before his sudden death earlier this month.
Russell Evan Stephenson, 58, died unexpectedly the morning of April 7. A graduate of the Defense Language Institute’s Korean course with over 35 years in counterintelligence, he was serving as a civilian employee under the director of exercises for U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa.
“This is a witness to his impact in this life,” said Col. Benjamin Roark, SETAF-AF’s G7 director, speaking at an emotional memorial service in the Sigholtz Center that was attended by Stephenson’s wife, mother-in-law and a cousin.
Some 150 uniformed and civilian colleagues filled the available seats and about a half-dozen more stood in the back of the room. Some bowed their heads or wiped tears from their eyes as “Ave Maria” played during a moment of silence, and some exchanged tearful hugs afterward.
“It’s not just an occasion marked by tears,” Roark told the audience, referencing a slideshow that played as the ceremony began.
Mourners observe a moment of silence at a memorial service in Vicenza, Italy, on April 16, 2026. They honored Russell Evan Stephenson, a 58-year-old Army civilian and longtime counterintelligence professional who also was an Army veteran. (Chad Garland/Stars and Stripes)
The photos showed Stephenson on various trips or embracing family members, typically with what Roark called an “infectious smile,” a sign of his characteristic joy.
“He had a way of walking into a room and lifting it up,” he said. “There was an energy about him, a genuine, joyful and unmistakable good energy.”
The two recently traveled to Tanzania for an exercise, where they sat in a convoy together in traffic for several hours, “navigating the chaos ... in that environment.” he said.
“Like everything else, Russ made it enjoyable,” Roark said.
The son of a Navy commander, Stephenson lived in various places throughout the mainland U.S. as well as in Hawaii and the Azores while growing up, but he considered Texas his home, according to a biography in the event’s program.
In his 12 years in the Army, he served in South Korea, Europe and Africa, and afterward spent nine years as a contractor, then 16 as a government civilian, all of it in counterintelligence.
But when the veteran spook arrived at SETAF-AF about 18 months ago for a position on the exercise staff rather than in the intelligence section, it raised suspicions among new colleagues, one of the speakers said.
Brian Blake, an employee in the exercise directorate of U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa, speaks about his colleague Russell Evan Stephenson during a memorial service April 16, 2026. A 58-year-old Army civilian, who Stephenson died earlier this month at his home in Vicenza, Italy. (Chad Garland/Stars and Stripes)
They thought he might be there to spy on them, said Brian Blake, a co-worker who shared a few light-hearted memories at the ceremony.
“Something prompted me to confront Russ, and I said, ‘If you’re a cop, you know you have to tell us,” Blake said. “He just looked at me with a stone-cold face and said, ‘No, I don’t.”
It was like a mic-drop moment, Blake said, but Stephenson later said that he’d taken the post outside the intelligence shop so he could spend his last three years before retirement in Italy, with plans to settle there with his wife.
Capt. Anne Nguyen, far right, leads a memorial service April 16, 2026, at Caserma Del Din in Vicenza, Italy. Projected on the screen is an image of Russell Evan Stephenson, an Army civilian who wanted to retire in his wife's native country. (Chad Garland/Stars and Stripes)
Though his love of life and love for people touched many around the world, “his greatest love was reserved for his wife, Patrizia, his amore,” said Capt. Anne Nguyen, the soldier who led the memorial service.
As the ceremony ended, Roark escorted Stephenson’s grieving widow out of the auditorium. She paused briefly, turned to the gathered crowd and, with nods of her head and a hand to her heart, quietly expressed her gratitude for their attendance.
Patrizia Stephenson, widow of Army civilian Russell Evan Stephenson, holds her mother's hand during a memorial service for her husband April 16, 2026, in Vicenza, Italy. Stephenson, an employee at U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa, died unexpectedly April 7 at age 58. (Chad Garland/Stars and Stripes)
Russell Evan Stephenson center-right, at a meeting between U.S. Army officials and medical professionals with Tanzania’s military during a readiness exercise in Tanzania, March 3, 2026. (Tucker Chase/U.S. Army)
