
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 26, 1995                   TAG: 9501260115
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

FURNITURE EXECUTIVE STEPHENSON DIES

Charles P. "Sonny" Stephenson Jr., 58-year-old former president of Stephenson & Aldridge Furniture and son of the company's co-founder and first A president, died Wednesday at Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

Stephenson started full-time in the family furniture business after he graduated from Lynchburg College in 1959. In 1973, when he was vice president of the company, Stephenson was honored as outstanding furniture merchant in Virginia by the Virginia-Carolinas Home Furnishings Representatives Association.

The company, formed in 1945, at one time operated stores in downtown Roanoke, on Apperson Road in Salem and in Lynchburg. The Salem store closed in 1990, bringing an end to the 45-year-old family-run business.

The closing came as family furniture businesses nationwide were suffering from competition with major chains.

Sonny Stephenson's poor health was also cited as a reason for the closing.

Memorials may be made to the American Heart Association.

by CNB