He was a Country Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1944 to 1973, representing the electorate of Byron.
He enlisted in the army at the beginning of World War II, and saw action at Tobruk, before being severely wounded in the Battle of El Alamein.
Initially left for dead, he managed to survive, but lost the sight in one eye and suffered impaired vision in the other.
Stephens resigned in the middle of his tenth term in 1973, and the subsequent by-election was won by Country Party candidate Jack Boyd.
He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1976, and died in the Sydney suburb of Lindfield in 1986.