AUSTIN, Texas – A brief look into the beautiful life lived by a great man who died March 12. Stephen Bruce Belyea was born April 23, 1947, in Mexico, to Claude and Jean Belyea. There he lived his childhood with four siblings, graduating from Mexico High School in the Class of 1965.

Upon becoming a man, he entered the Air Force and left the small town to travel overseas to protect our country. He ended his tour in Bergstrom Air Force Base in Austin, Texas, where he met the love of his life and started a family. He married Catherine Limon June 28, 1969. His first civilian job was to work in the test lab for Tracor.

On April 28, 1970, he and Cathy had a son, Paul Claude Belyea. To further his career, he moved his family to El Paso, Texas, where their first daughter, Julie Anne Belyea, was born Sept. 17, 1974. Their family grew once again with their chosen daughter, Amy Danielle Belyea, Feb. 19, 1976. Then once again his family grew with the miracle of Laura Jean Belyea, Dec. 9, 1978.

To further his education and better his family, he became a student at the University of Texas at El Paso while continuing to advance his career with the state of Texas. He graduated from UTEP in 1980, and as luck and love would have it, the opportunity to move back to Austin arose and he took it.

This move would bring his love back to her family and give his children a chance for a great education. He began working for the University of Texas at Austin as the director of asbestos abatement, then assistant director of environmental health and safety. This was a job he loved and it led to even better success. After the graduation of the older three children from high school and Paul Belyea from the University of Texas at Austin, he moved the family to Lubbock, Texas, to work with the fine people of Texas Tech University as the director of environmental health and safety.

He was happiest in his career while working in Lubbock. He was truly honored to have worked at Texas Tech University for six years. His family knows how much he was loved there by all of the staff. He retired from Texas Tech University in 2000, but continued to work in the environmental field after bringing his wife back to Austin.

He did see Paul, Julie and Amy successfully marry and start families of their own. Laura Jean Belyea made her father most proud when she graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and began her career.

His high spirit and loving memory live on through his wife of 38 years, Cathy Limon Belyea; his parents, Claude and Jean Belyea of Roxbury; his children, Paul Claude Belyea and wife, Jeri, Julie Anne McDaniel and husband, Jason, Amy Danielle Harris and husband, Greg, and Laura Jean Belyea; his grandchildren, Mia La Shae Price, James Thomas Price, Samuel Stephen Belyea, Noah Alexander Belyea and Katherine Jane McDaniel; his siblings, Claudia and husband, Don Comeau, of Hollis, Vickie and husband, Randall Young, of Mexico, Barbara Dolloff of Canton and James Belyea and wife, Gail, of Mexico; as well as many nieces and nephews.