At the peak of the depression in 1933, he bought controlling interest in the Washington-based High's Dairy Products Corporation.
With a $1,800 loan he operated ten ice cream stores and a plant at 1326 Half Street SE in Washington.
In 1962, he donated all of his stock to his alma mater, the Campus of Iowa State University which in turn named an auditorium after him.
In 1962, Senator Frank E. Shipley bypassed the state school board nominating commission recommendation of Fred Schoenbrodt, and installed C.Y.
[5] A month later, Stephens died outside of Annapolis, Maryland in an automobile collision on the Severn River Bridge on 29 November 1963.