Robert Carl Stewart, 57, a beloved member of Plant City’s homeless community died Sunday, Feb. 12.
For his country, Robert Carl Stewart was willing to give his life. For his daughter, Lisa, he did.
Stewart died Sunday, Feb.12, following recent heart issues he’d been having. He was a veteran, a father of four, a grandfather to 13 and a beloved, selfless friend to many, those who knew him said.
He died in the woods at a campsite he shared with his daughter.
It was the only home he had.
“He was homeless because he was helping Lisa,” Shirley Chamberlain, a local advocate for the homeless, said. “He was living in Lakeland in a house. Through circumstances, he became homeless just because he was helping Lisa. He came out on to the streets to be with her. He sacrificed what he had to be with her.”
Stewart, 57, was a Plant City native and was among the estimated 181 homeless veterans currently living throughout Hillsborough County, and the more than 120,000 nationwide, according to the Tampa Hillsborough Homeless Initiative.
Last year’s annual report showed that there are 1,817 homeless in Hillsborough. However, the number of veterans could actually be higher — 627 of the people counted refused to answer the question.
“He never turned his back on nobody. He always had them open arms for everybody.” -Ava Fountain
Some of the homeless live in their cars, some wherever they can find shelter and some, like Stewart and his daughter, camp on public and private property in the woods.
Brian Ellis has been in the military for the past 15 years. He is a peer mentor with support services for veterans in Hillsborough County for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. He has recently partnered with Chamberlain and Jennifer Anderson, a pastor at New Hope Worship Center, to provide support for the local homeless population.
“I take it very personal that, unfortunately, this man didn’t make it out of the woods,” Ellis said. “Everyone should work together as a community to help the unfortunate and the less advantaged.”
Part of Anderson’s mission is providing memorial services for those who might otherwise go without.
A memorial service was held for Stewart Wednesday, Feb. 22. Even through a rainy day, many friends and family — some of them homeless as well — showed to pay their respects to a man who many believed should still be alive.
“We were talking and I told him he didn’t look too good,” Theresa Martinez, a friend of Stewart and his daughter, said. “He said, ‘No, I’m okay’. Fifteen minutes later, he keeled over on me. He had been out on the street for about a month. I think that’s what did it.”
Martinez had gone to check on Stewart the day he died. She said he had just left the hospital a few weeks prior. He’d been having issues with stints that were put in his heart within the last few months. Close with his daughter, Martinez said she would often check on them and bring them food. She recently became homeless herself and is currently living in a minivan with Stewart’s daughter.
Losing Stewart, Martinez said, was like losing a parent.
“From the minute I met him, we kicked off,” Martinez said. “I called him dad.”
She remembers fondly driving Stewart to Tampa to get his monthly VA benefits. To repay her, he would take her to the Brick House Cafe, his favorite restaurant in town.
As friends and family came up to say a few words about Stewart in lieu of a single eulogy, the consensus was clear.
“He was a good man,” and “I loved Robert” were repeated often. He was described as kind and fiercely loyal, the kind of man who would never turn his back on anyone, even if it meant putting himself out.
Ellis said the loyalty and sacrifice within Stewart is something he, as a fellow serviceman, experiences and understands.
“I’ve been in the military for 15 years, Ellis said. “When I’m working with veterans, I’m not looking at it as if I am working with just an individual. Not only am I working with a fellow veteran, it’s almost like you’re working with a family member.”
Stewart had options to leave his camp, but he wouldn’t leave his friends or his daughter behind. If they couldn’t come with him, he wasn’t going to leave them.
“He never turned his back on nobody,” Ava Fountain, a friend of Stewart’s, said during the ceremony. “He always had … open arms for everybody. I want to say this to everybody. Don’t judge nobody. Open your arms to everybody. I just miss Robert already … He even got him a home, but Robert wasn’t happy in the home. He’d rather be out there. He just loved everybody out there. So, you all keep on being strong out there.”
