USS Fessenden (DE-142)
She was named in honor of Reginald Aubrey Fessenden, born in Brome County, Quebec, Canada, 6 October 1866. He served as head chemist with Thomas Edison's East Orange, New Jersey, laboratories. In 1890 he began concentrating on electrical engineering, and through the next years made many important inventions and improvements in existing devices. His great contributions in the field of radio (particularly the invention of radio-telephony were of marked benefit not only to the Navy but to all seamen. He died 22 July 1932, at his home on Bermuda.
P. R. Stephensen
Percy Reginald Stephensen was born on 20 November 1901 in Maryborough, Queensland. He was the eldest son of Swiss immigrant Christian Julius Stephensen and his wife Marie Tardent, daughter of journalist Henry Tardent. In his youth he attended Biggenden State School and later Maryborough Boys Grammar School. Though sustaining mediocre performance at Maryborough, Stephensen displayed an affinity for polemics.