Biography
Announcements
John Stephenson
P.O. Box 175885
Ft. Mitchell, KY 41017
home: (606) 331-4400
cell: (606) 653-7000
fax: (606) 331-4410
Family HistoryLet us first look at the family lines with our famous cousin Rodger Bingham and Our line of the Bingham Family.
My name is John Stephenson, I actually prefer the Country Boy handle, and I was born on Wolfe Rd. in Taylor Mill, Kentucky, we stayed there
for the first seven years of my life then we moved to Moffett and Martin roads on a small hill farm in Independence, Kentucky. I now live in a little
stone house, we built in Fort Mitchell, Ky. (Check out the web site http://www.jstephenson.com) I am currently disabled, as is my wife June
Geiman-Stephenson, but we rest in the Lord and he provides. Our next project will be to write the History Novel of Kentucky on the Net using my web site; it will be unique in that I intend to invite others to contribute stories and information as we move along on the superhighway of the Internet. We have already traveled
throughout all 120 counties filming the History of each county. In fact I am one of few Kentuckians who has been in each county several times in my travels since the sixties. In fact, I still have the diary of my first statewide trip where over 3000 people personally signed in the diary with name address and phone number, documenting my presence in their town. Needless to say we treasurer this document, as we do the videos of the History of each county. These videos were done with the local historian in front of their local courthouse and are a priceless picture of oral history for our children and researchers. These travels have afforded June and me a real look at the inside of government and politics, both from the point of view of the candidate, but also the point of view of the press. From Governors to Senators, to councilpersons to Mayors. I've shook their hands and video them across the commonwealth. It's been both fun and frustrating at times. However, it has never been without a learning experience and in the people of Kentucky is where my heartstrings have always been entrenched. My age is 57, we love to travel and film the trips and show them on TV so that others may follow. I produced the first Public Access show in Kentucky on the subject of Home Weatherization. I since have produce thousands of hours of videos on many subjects and on all walks of life. I served as the first Chairperson of the Community Program Center in our area, and still currently serve on that board. My Email is jjgs@one.net and we have one other web site were we try to send a Christian message without preaching. www.Godspeaks.com. We love to sing, whistle, and have fun and I hope we live to see a world at peace with itself and others. God Bless you and yours.My Cousin Rodger Bingham "Kentucky Joe" President of Senate David Williams
Speaker Jody Richards of the House(above) Governor Paul Patton & Rodger
I think it is fabulous that my cousin Rodger Bingham is on the survivor show. I talk to him often, and the state has honored him on Feb. 20th of this year. His Grandfather, Estle Jackson Bingham and my Grandfather Reuben Samuel Bingham were brothers and two of thirteen children of Zacharia Taylor Bingham and Mary Jane Beach. The children were, I believe in this order, Benjamin Violet Bingham, Myrtle Howard Bingham, Fannie Gertrude Bingham, Reuben Samuel Bingham (My Grandfather), Nancy (Nanny Bell) Bingham, Louise Ann (Lusan) Bingham, Nola Bingham, Estle (Jackson) Bingham,
(Rodgers Grandfather), Eula Bertha Bingham, Thomas Benton Bingham, Arthur William Bingham, Otto Hiram Bingham and Mary Edna Bingham.
My Grandfather, Ruben Samuel Bingham married Grace Hoard Bell and had five children, my mom was the first, Garnette Bingham who later married my father Alton Charles Stephenson, both of whom grew up in the Mt. Zion-Flat Creek area of Grant County. She had three brothers and one sister in her family. Eugene Hugh Bingham was after Garnette and was an agriculture teacher at Grant County for many years until his retirement. He was one of the best farmers in the Commonwealth. I spent a many a day with Aunt Betty, Uncle Hugh, and my cousins Barry, and Bruce as we grew up through our teens. Then came Uncle Wilber, (and Aunt Pauline)- Wilber Douglas Bingham, who also taught and was commander of the local reserve, as well as being the local mail route carrier for many years. His four children are Doug, Pat, Greg and Kathy, like their mom and dad they are all of strong character and have spread out all over the Nation. Doug and I particularly spent time running the hills of Grant County, and Zion Station. God only knows how the folks survive raising us in the sixties. I guess by today's standards we might have been considered tame. Next is Aunt Ruth, that is Ruth Thaliah Bingham, she taught all her life in neighboring Carroll County where she and her husband Gerald Eckler had the local funeral home, which they lived above for many years. You think us cousins didn’t have a great time roaming the halls of that great place.( I will tell you some stories later) Their only child didn’t come until late in life, Elizabeth, but she and Chuck, her husband, sure have been a blessing to her Mom and Dad. Then came William Ray Bingham, (Uncle Bill and Aunt Ermine Watts) They were tragically killed in an auto accident, along with their son, Timothy William Bingham age 12, while their daughter, who has become on the nations finest lawyers, Miriam Jane survive the tragedy. Uncle Bill was Chairman of the new horticulture department of the University of Kentucky, where I began my college work in the sixties.
Bringing up the rear of Ruben and Graces family was His namesake, Ruben Donald Bingham, farmer, teacher, soil conservationist and the salt of the earth. He and Aunt Fredericka Ferrell have three children, Carlene, Harold Ray and Gracella. Carlene, Harold Ray (who stands about 6'6") and I were
amongst the Grant County rug rats. Carlene has taught most of her life and Harold Ray can charm the skin off a snake, with his laid back, honest personality, good ole country boy verbiage. Gracella came along latter in life, which was what probably save her from the wild influences of the sixties crowd. Got to love these cousins, my mom, Garnette and dad, Alton Charles had five children- and we are even closer today than we were as kids. Barbara Jean, who married Jay Brandner has retired from teaching and has two children, Steve and Susan who teach. Gerald Beaufort (He does not like the middle name thank you) has one of the best voices I have ever heard and can sing and play for hours. He is retired and we sing and travel together across the country. His wife, Dorothy Chandler, ( Related to Simon Kenton) makes quilts, and they have four children, Jerry, Greg, Cindy and Todd. The professional singer of the family is our sister Mary Ruth, who married Jackie Robinson, they are now The Robinson Family Singers and you can find out all about them by going to the links page. Rachel, Rebecca, Mark, the twins Susannah and Julie have all sang with the group over the past 25 years across the nation and Canada.
The youngest in our family was my little sister Judy Lynn (also know as Penny winkle) who married Don Felty and they have two children, Melissa, a computer software brain and Donald who is Mr. Personality. Judy, has also taught, and now works with her husband who is a Financial Consultant and teacher. In case you haven’t noticed one thread seems to run through the Bingham/Stephenson line of the family is teaching. I also taught, and was the last elected Superintendent of Public Instruction. In fact that is the whole purpose of this effort, to teach and learn as I go about this project.
My children are Holly, Pamela, Guido (Guy) Colleen Michelle Garnette, and a few others I have played a small role in their lives as a stepfather or friend, Jill, Robbie, Trena, Mike, Lorie, Davie, Angela, and others. Well that's enough about my family for now, lets look at Rodgers line which I have traced back to Reuben's brother, Estle (Jackson) Bingham, this is how he spilled it on his social
security card, (or Estill in some records) who married Eure Mary Sipple, they had four children, Paul Taylor, Pauline Bingham, Leslie Parke and Rodgers father Pierce Lee Bingham, who married Francis Emogene Winn. They had two sons, Dr. Barry Lee Bingham and Rodger Winn Bingham (Our Survivor) who married Patricia Linore Spellman. They have one wonderful daughter, who is also a teacher, Angela, who as we now know is married to another teacher Kevin Hedenberg, who wrote the passage about Rodgers efforts to become a survivor contestant. (See in other part of web site) His Brother Dr. Barry Bingham married Virginia Dell Hutsell, they had three children, Barry Mark Bingham, Andra Dawn Bingham, and Matthew Scott Bingham. His wife's name is Linda.
Dr. Bingham still is a practicing veterinarian everyday in is Home of Grant County. (More to come)
History is the light to our future and history shows that freedom of speech is the cornerstone of human rights for enlightend democracies.Democracy without this substantial right could be considered deformed. Whether corruption is government or corporate, it is like a cancer in the human body. It must be eradicated, or the organism will die. Whistle blowers are the human factor that constitutes the Achilles heel for corruption in democracies. Typically, corruption and mismanagement are covered up by the wrongdoers. Wrongdoers inevitably suppress exposure of information that threatens to redirect their priorities from self interest to the public's interest. A primary tool to tell the difference between a sick bureaucracy that perpetuates corruption, and a healthy institution that serves the public, is whether it tolerates, accepts or even welcomes the bitter medicine that whistle blowers personify. As U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brandeis said, "Sunlight is the best disinfectant." Every year, thousands of Americans witness wrongdoing on the job. Some speak out. Their actions may ultimately save lives and billions of dollars. Ben Franklin said, "There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government." Why otherwise good people have no conscience when it comes to siphoning money from the public till will always remain a mystery. But it's true: individuals and corporations invent new ways to commit fraud against the government on a daily basis. What can the average person do to stop the government from getting fleeced? The federal False Claims Act (and its state counterparts) gives any person the right to file a lawsuit to recover money from unscrupulous people and companies that cheat the government. Whistle blowing is stressful business. Rather than being treated as the heroes that they are, whistle blowers are often persecuted by those engaged in fraud and by those too afraid to take a stand against wrongdoing.
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