Artie's Story

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​​2018

AFS Golf Tournament 

On Friday night August 14, 1987 Artie Stearns​​​ was killed by a drunk driver.  He was just 54 years old.

That night, Artie and his wife Ginny were out to dinner with their good friends Dusty and Marie Alward.  On their way home from dinner their car was hit head on by a drunk driver.  Both Artie and Dusty were killed instantly, Marie and Ginny were in serious condition but eventually survived.

Shortly after Artie's death, the AFS Memorial fund was formed. The funds main fundraiser is the Arthur F. Stearns Memorial golf tournament, held each year near the end of June at Braintree Municipal Golf Course. 

​The fund's goal is to annually recognize "local families in need" and to donate the proceeds from that year's tournament to those families in Artie's memory. The fund and the tournament are more about how Artie lived his life than about how he died.

        ARTIE'S STORY

Arthur French Stearns II was born in 1933.  Born into a family of educators, his grandfather Arthur French Stearns was headmaster of The Stearns Prep School and his great, great grandfather, William Agustus Stearns, was the longest running president of Amherst College.  The Stearns Steeple, built in honor of William, still stands on the Amherst campus today.  

Artie's future was promising with a family of educators.  The great depression hit a few years after his birth and changed his course. His mother, now single, returned home to Norwell, MA. where she remarried and Artie was brought up on a Norwell farm with his mother and new step father (Arthur Merritt).  As a young man he entered the U.S. Navy to see the world.  Coming home he met Virginia Marsico from Braintree and the two were married in 1955 at St. Francis of Assisi church in Braintree, MA. He started to work as yard help with The Plymouth Quarries in Hingham, Ma. Over the next ten years he and Ginny started their family of three children and Artie decided to open his own company , Stearns Masonry.  As a self employed stone cutter and mason Artie built many beautiful projects through out the south shore that still stand today.  

Artie was one of those people who enjoyed life to the fullest.  One could hear him whistling at work as he was cutting stone, he took great pleasure in being part of his childrens, his nieces and nephews activities and anything that involved his family and friends.​

 Artie was a joy to be around. He was a good conversationalist and fun to be with, mainly because he was a great listener.  In a conversation with Artie, you would come away feeling better about yourself, simply because he always had time for you and he was genuinely interested in what you had to say.  It was a gift that he had.  

Artie also loved to play golf.  He eventually taught Ginny how to play.  And it is in this spirit that the AFS Memorial golf tournament continues strong to this day.  

Today Artie is survived by his growing family - Butch and Linda Stearns and their three daughters Lily, Sophia and Tori; Derek and Carol Stearns and their children Ian and Julia; and Leeann Stearns and her husband Mike Connelly.  Artie's grandchildren, who have never met him, know about him through his memorial fund and get to witness his work through the stone projects he built locally.