Poet, professor Stevens dies

Monday, Sept. 30, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

A. Wilber Stevens, a UNLV emeritus professor of English who was regarded as the state's most recognizable poet, has died in Las Vegas. He was 75.

Stevens died Thursday following a lengthy battle with cancer.

"Wil certainly was Nevada's most well-known poet," said Chris Hudgins, associate professor of English at UNLV and a longtime friend. "Because of his many contacts in the Northeast, he also helped get other poets published and helped organize local groups of poets."

Joe McCullough, chairman of UNLV's English department, said of his friend: "He had an exquisite sense of place and perception. He could take personal situations and turn them into extraordinary dialogue."

Of his own work, Stevens told the SUN in December: "The hardest thing about writing poetry is living with a poem after you've written it. I always reread it later to see if I can still live with it."

Ironically, his last collection of works, published last year, was "From the Still Empty Grave." In 1988, he published "The World is Going to End Up in Burma," which contained a poem of the same name.

Stevens was first published as a poet in 1948 with the piece entitled "Seattle: The Storm."

He was founder and editor of the poetry journal Interim from 1944-54 and 1986 to his death.

Services for the 23-year local resident will be 1 p.m. Tuesday in Christ Church Episcopal, 2000 S. Maryland Parkway. Palm Mortuary, 7400 W. Cheyenne Ave., is handling arrangements.

Born Aug. 16, 1921, in Brooklyn, N.Y., Stevens was a World War II Army veteran.

He came to UNLV in 1973, where he was dean of the College of Arts and Letters. He retired in 1994, but retained an office at UNLV until his death.

Stevens at one time wrote drama reviews for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Stevens is survived by two sons, Arthur W. Stevens III of Medford, Ore., and Christopher R. Stevens of Las Vegas; and three grandchildren.

DONATIONS: In Stevens memory to the Vista Hospice, 1830 E. Sahara Ave., Suite 102, Las Vegas, NV 89104 or the American Cancer Society, 1325 E. Harmon Ave., Las Vegas, NV 89119.