Lizzie Belle Stephens

Lizzie was born in Pisgah, Alabama. At three months old, her family moved across the country looking for work. They ended up in a little country town called Turkey Creek, FL (which is near Plant City). She was the youngest daughter with eight other siblings. Her father & brothers ran a lumber mill. She, her mother & sisters raised a garden & worked in the fields.

At sweet 16, she met John at a Turkey Creek Football game and quickly fell in love. Three months later (with her parent’s permission) they drove up to Georgia and got married. John had served in the Navy for two years and had a job with the Seaboard Airline Railroad. They started their life together in a little home in Dover, FL that they built. They had three children together. Gordon, Deborah & Jennifer which she dearly loved and took excellent care of them and was very active in their lives as they grew, got married and had children of their own.

She grew up attending church but received Christ as a young wife as she and John became active in church together and began to grow in Bible Study. She and John both made a profession of faith in 1956 at Sidney Baptist Church.

Liz had many talents:

She loved to read. One story of her childhood was of her sitting on a stool churning butter with one hand and holding a book in the other.

She became the neighborhood taxi driver as most of the ladies did not know how to drive. Dad tried to teach her how to drive when they first got married but she conquered it herself. He worked nights, so she would practice driving in the yard while he slept.

She was a licensed beautician, she not only cut her families hair but also most of the neighborhood ladies at Orient Park in Tampa. If the house smelled of rotten eggs you knew she had just given someone a perm.

She actually worked many jobs throughout her life-strawberry picker in the fields of Dover & Plant City, rolled cigars at Hav-A-Tampa cigar factory, worked at a plant that produced powdered eggs for the military, worked sales at JM Fields Department Store, nursery worker and head cook at Good Shepherd Christian School, and custodian at an apartment complex in Temple Terrace.

She was wonderful cook & baker, her specialty was a multi-layered cake with strawberry filling and cool whip icing, she made many meals for her family and for friends, neighbors and church functions. You never left her home hungry and everyone always raved how delicious everything was. One of our family’s favorite that she made was Deviled Crabs, this was a labor of love as it took two days to make and she didn’t make just one for you to have but dozens. If you are from Tampa this is a real treat.

She also knew how to can and freeze fruits and vegetables and always had a supply to give whoever came by to visit. She and John would either hand pick the vegetables or get them from the farmer’s market in Plant City. One year, she canned over 100 jars of black eyed peas, of course that was the most popular that everyone wanted a jar to take home.

She had a green thumb and was always working in her yard growing flowers and vegetables. Her favorite flower was a Red Rose which is represented today.

She was a very talented seamstress. She not only mended her family’s clothes but she sewed most of them even both of her daughter’s wedding dresses. She also liked to make crafts like dolls similar to the cabbage patch dolls and had quite a collection.

She loved animals and would train them to do tricks. She even took care of a couple of squirrels on different occasions when they fell out of trees and they became like pets until they were healthy again.

She loved the Lord and was very active in the church. She worked in the nursery, taught children’s Sunday School and Vacation Bible School. She also sang in the choir. Made meals for those who were sick or homebound, and hosted many missionaries, church workers and pastors.

She was always taking care of someone. Elderly neighbors, both of her mothers (Grandmas White & Stephens) when they were unable to care for themselves. Her husband, John, when he had a back injury and later heart surgery. Her children and grandchildren. Even animals, one time the family dog Ringo was in a dog fight and was badly injured. She stitched him up and bandaged him and nursed him back to health.

The best word to describe Liz would be “servant.” She loved to serve and did it well and with meekness & honor. Her children always commented that their mother never “sat around” she was always active, always doing something-cooking, cleaning, creating. When you went to her home you were always welcomed and offered a cup of coffee and a piece of cake (or pie), invited to stay for a meal, engaged in a warm conversation, took trips around the yard to look at her flowers or pick a bag of oranges for you to take home, invited to come back again and received heartwarming hugs as you left.

In her later years, as she suffered a stroke after undergoing a heart valve replacement and her body became weaker and her memory began to fade from dementia, she still showed the love she had for her family. Until she could no longer remember the names, she always asked about her children and grandchildren and wanted to know of their welfare. And when it was time for you to go, she was always quick to give a smile and a kiss as she truly loved you.