Ann Austin Stevens

She was also a teacher. All of these roles have this in common — a love of children, and of life.

She died, at age 93, in the early hours of New Year's Day. Of course, she lived to greet 2025; she wasn't one to miss a party.

Ann got one last big shebang on Christmas Day: She sat in the center of things as great-grandchildren raced all around her while opening presents at her daughter Carol's home in Arlington, Va.

She lived for her last five-and-a-half years at The Jefferson, an independent-living facility in Arlington's Ballston neighborhood. She made many good friends and held fiercely to the independence afforded her there.

Ann lived with her beloved cat, Carlotta, named for the famed diva soprano in "The Phantom of the Opera."

Carlotta died in early December at 20-something years old. (The SPCA couldn't be sure of her age when Ann adopted her all those years ago.) They were inseparable. And, of course, Ann already had designs on getting a new cat in the new year.

Ann was born on Sept. 7, 1931, in Washington, D.C., the oldest child of Lewis H. Austin and Esther Austin. The family later moved to Denver and then to Portland, Oregon, where she graduated from Ulysses S. Grant High School and Lewis and Clark College.

Ann married Richard F. Stevens Jr. in 1953, and they had three children: David, Carol, and Cheryl. They lived at first on the West Coast — in China Lake, Calif., and then Albany, Oregon. In the early 1960s, Richard’s job with the U.S. Bureau of Mines took the family to the Washington, D.C.-area where they settled in Fall Church, Va.

Ann taught high school English and theater in Washington State before she was married, and then she taught elementary school in Virginia. Later she worked as a librarian for the National Archives and Record Services. During her time there she worked in many capacities to advance equal employment opportunities for federal workers.

Among her many interests were painting, sculpting, baking, sewing, and designing clothes, particularly for her daughters and grandchildren. She also loved the theater — from the plays of Shakespeare to the musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Ann is survived by her three children: David (Phyllis), Carol (Erik Brady), and Cheryl; her five grandchildren: Safire (Philip) Ortbals, Mason (Liesl) Stevens, Azure Stevens (Nathaniel Gibb), Stevens (Shannon) Brady, and Claire Brady (John Duatschek); and nine great-grandchildren: Ezra and Jude Ortbals, Piper, Hadley and Thatcher Stevens, Brooklyn and Andrew Brady, and Erik and Lena Duatschek. She is also survived by her two beloved sisters, Silva (the late Donald) Kephart and Elizabeth (James) Ayers.

Celebrations of her life will be held on Feb. 2, at 2 p.m., at The Jefferson, 900 N. Taylor Street, Arlington, Va, and at 11 a.m. on March 1 at the Lincoln Memorial Park and Funeral Home, 11801 SE Mt. Scott Blvd., Portland, Oregon.