By The last three weeks we had with our Mom probably offered the best comfort possible except for the peace she now enjoys with God.
Highway to Heaven angels must have been working overtime on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020. How else could my path just “happened” to have crossed with that of Susan Stevenson James on a serene sidewalk several blocks from our respective residences at opposite ends of the village that glorious afternoon?
While it was the cheery, multi-colored protective facial covering this strolling stranger had cleverly fashioned from an airplane sleep mask that initially caught my eye, it was discovering what she had done in the midst of a pandemic that touched my heart. Turns out souls can still connect even when physical bodies must practice social distancing etiquette.
Having returned to Ballston Spa in 2018 after spending several carefree years in the sunny south with husband Garry, Susan had welcomed the arrival of the new decade with memories of the couple’s 2019 European travels and cruise ship adventures still dancing in her head. She had every reason to believe 2020 would be equally blissful.
How right John Lennon was when he famously noted: “Life is what happens when we’re busy making other plans.”
As the coronavirus that had loomed merely as a dark cloud in February proved to be what to be what NYS Governor Andrew Cuomo would soon thereafter dub “a slow moving hurricane,” it dawned on Susan that a sudden shift in the direction of her life would become necessary.
I was – and remain – profoundly moved by what Susan and other loved ones agreed to do early on in the global health care crisis. In an effort to help protect some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers, Cuomo had mandated that effective Friday, March 13, only medically necessary visits would be allowed in nursing care settings. This, of course, included the residential rehabilitation complex where Susan’s Mom, Leila Mae Stevenson, had been placed following her discharge from Saratoga Hospital earlier this year.
While understanding the government’s desire to do everything possible to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, the new policy would mean none of 84-year-old Leila Mae’s family and friends would be permitted to visit her for what would surely be a prolonged period. Resolving that her Mom would not spend her hours isolated from those nearest and dearest to her heart, Susan offered to join some of her sisters in caring for their mother in a cozy village apartment.
Although I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Susan’s Mom on Friday, April 24, 2020, I was uplifted to learn via the beautifully written obituary honoring Leila Mae Stevenson’s life and subsequent email exchanges with Susan that her mother had left behind an enduring legacy of love, light – and laughter!
It wasn’t simply that Leila Mae is survived by five caring, nurturing daughters (Susan plus sisters Sandra King, Carol Mini, Vickie Rockerfeller and Ruth Stankus), 15 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren that inspired to prepare an extra special Mother’s Day tribute. It was the fact that Leila Mae had continued to bring sunshine and smiles into the lives of others despite having suffered the losses of her beloved husband, John Charles Stevenson, Sr. (whom she wed in 1951), as well as the untimely passings of cherished son, John Charles Stevenson, Jr., daughter, Lori Flones, and grandchildren Jeffrey Flones and Renee King left me in even greater awe of this remarkable woman I had never met – and whose obituary I might have overlooked had my path and that of her daughter Susan not “happened” to have crossed mere weeks earlier.
Born to Ruth and Frank Brogue on April 26, 1935, Leila Mae had attended Ballston Spa High School and worked at the Ballston Spa Knitting Mill before marrying John Charles Stevenson on December 2, 1951 According to Leila Mae’s obituary, as her young family grew, she and Susan’s Dad enjoyed taking Sunday drives, attending clambakes and traveling to the beach.
An especially endearing passage read as follows: “During their travels Leila always enjoyed being the navigator for her husband. When they stopped traveling, her love of maps continued as she would suggest routes and track the journeys of her family members. In the years after her children were grown she enjoyed camping and growing African Violets. She will continue to bring smiles to many faces with memories of her witty old wives-tales (some appropriate, some not) and her love of McDonalds (when her family would allow the indulgence).”
The tribute continued: “In the past several years she found great joy in visiting with friends Doris, Ethel and Norma and in collecting pictures and creating photo albums for all of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She never missed out on a single Christmas gift, birthday or anniversary card for any of her children, many grandchildren, their partners or their children. How she kept track of her big, lively family, we will never know. But she will be remembered for this passion, love and happiness. In our hearts she will always stay.”
Additional childhood memories Susan credits her Mom with making possible included swimming lessons in the village pool on Ralph Street, visiting the Old Iron Spring on Front Street with Grandma and Grandpa Brogue (who lived on nearby Bath Street), joining friends after services at the Baptist Church on Milton Avenue for ice cream at a nearby snack bar, watching movies at the Capitol Theatre on Front Street, being treated to penny candy at O’Brien Pharmacy and outings to the Saratoga County Fair. Memories of earning badges as a Brownie and then a Girl Scout and later of working as a Candy Striper in the former Benedict Memorial Hospital on Rowland Street, where one of her sisters had been born, are also embraced as having been special blessings during Susan’s youth.
Bonus blessings included meeting her mother’s many friends and acquaintances over the years. “It gives me great comfort in knowing that my Mom was never isolated from friends and activities where she lived (in the village’s Doubleday Woods senior apartment building) and that during her last weeks at home, when she was largely confined to a wheelchair, but continued rehab exercises, such as walking with assistance from her chair to the bathroom, my sisters and I were able to tenderly care for her needs as well as enriching her life in other ways.”
“One day we took Mom out for a ride to the Saratoga Spa State Park and gave her a drink from the mineral springs. Treating her to ice cream and watching TV together — all of these were just a few of the things Mom would not have been able to experience had we not decided to bring her home from the nursing care center. The last three weeks we had with our Mom probably offered the best comfort possible except for the peace she now enjoys with God.”
Susan’s parting reflection for those who still have Moms on earth this Mother’s Day: “Spend time with them now because we don’t have the promise of tomorrow. Let us live today with love in our hearts.”
Private services for Leila Mae were held on April 29, 2020 at the Armer Funeral Home on East High Street — across from where the masked faces of Susan and I had first met on Easter Sunday. I wiped away a tear as I read a bittersweet line in Leila Mae’s obituary stating that although no guests from the community could attend her funeral services (because of COVID-19 prevention measures), “love and prayers are welcomed by the family.” In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in memory of Leila Mae Stevenson may be made to the Northeast Kidney Foundation, 501 New Karner Road, Albany, NY 12205 or healthykidneys.org. Online remembrances may be made at ArmerFuneralHome.com and LastingMemories.com/leila-stevenson.
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY, DEAR LEILA MAE!
PARTING NOTE: If you have a special Mother’s Day 2020 photo with a detailed caption to share with Ballston Spa Living, please email it to Editor Ann Hauprich at annhauprich4@gmail.com. CLICK HERE to read a tribute Ann wrote to her own mother, retired Malta Avenue school teacher Audrey Bopp Hauprich.
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