USN Chaplain (Ret.) Edwin Douglas "Doug" Stanfield

USN Chaplain (Ret.) Edwin Douglas Stanfield, 70, of Piedmont, passed away on Thursday, February 16, 2017.

Born in St. Petersburg, Florida on September 30, 1946, he was the son of the late Rev. Claude Stanfield and the late Wilma Clayton Stanfield.

Capt. Stanfield was a graduate of the University of South Florida, Duke University Divinity School, and Princeton Theological Seminary. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1966 as a seaman recruit and served with the Third Marine Division as the Leading Petty officer assigned to the Khe Sanh Combat Base during the 1968 Tet Offensive. Honorably discharged in January 1970, Stanfield became a member of the NC Methodist Conference and served churches in Rougemont and Pink Hill, NC before returning to military duty as a Chaplain Corps officer in 1978. Duty stations included the U.S. Naval Training Center in San Diego; the Destroyer Squadron Five; the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis; the U.S. Naval Station in Guam; the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in Parris Island; the Office of the Navy Chief of Chaplains in Washington D.C.; the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay; the U.S. Coast Guard in Alameda; the Marine Corps Air Bases Western Region at Miramar; and the Naval Medical Center in San Diego.

Capt. Stanfield's awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal, a Combat Action Ribbon, a Vietnam Service Medal, a Humanitarian Service Medal, and others. In 1983, Stanfield was named Armed Forces Chaplain of the Year.

He settled with his family in San Diego after retiring from active duty in 2005, and relocated to Piedmont last May.

Surviving are his wife, Vera Jaudon Stanfield, and son, Samuel Douglas Stanfield, of Piedmont, SC; two sisters, Linda Lewis and husband, Harmon, of Ocala, FL, and Amy Nottingham of Jacksonville, FL; and ten nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held Thursday, March 2nd, at 11:00 AM at Bethesda United Methodist Church, 516 Piedmont Road, Easley, SC, with Rev. Dan Batson officiating. A naval honors memorial service and burial will be held in Arlington Cemetery at a later date.

Arrangements are being handled by Robinson Funeral Home. Flowers may be sent to the church. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be sent to The Foundation for Peripheral Neuropathy, Attn: Supporting the Cause, 485 Half Day Rd., Suite 350, Buffalo Grove, IL 60089.