Edna Friesz Stevenson

Edna Friesz Stevenson, 82, of Vestavia Hills, Alabama, passed away Wednesday morning, October 23, 2019. She was born on June 12, 1937, in New Leipzig, North Dakota to Edward Fries and Lillian Pastion Friesz.

Edna was raised on her family’s farm and always said that the work was hard but she had so many beautiful memories and loved telling stories about living on the farm. She loved telling about how her and one of her cousins set out to find out how many baby chickens could fit in a milk pail, which she would recommend no one try. She would fondly remember her mother cooking the wonderful meals for the family and the days spent in the fields with her brothers and sisters and picking the chokecherries near the creek.

Edna met and married Alfred Stevenson Jr. from Holdenville, Oklahoma. She had four children whom she loved dearly, Keith Edward Stevenson(Jenny), deceased, Alfred Hugh Stevenson, JaAnne Stevenson Dezenzio (Patrick) and JoAnne Stevenson Headrick.

Edna loved flowers, hummingbirds and holiday gatherings but the light of her life were her six adoring grandchildren, Christy, Steven, Emily, Natalie, Hunter and Katie.

She always loved crafts, crocheting and knitting and in 1978 she opened a successful business, Rocky Heights Needle and Craft in Cahaba Heights, Alabama. She would say her store was one where women could come to laugh, cry, brag about their children and complain about their husbands while doing a little painting and needlework. She loved her shop and made many lasting friends.

Edna is preceded in death by Alfred Stevenson Jr., her son Keith Edward Stevenson, sisters Lorraine Kuchenski, Gladys Wutsky and Betty Claus, and brothers, Eugene Friesz, Benny, and many others whom she loved. She leaves behind many who loved her.

She passed away in her home surrounded by her family, and leaves to cherish her memories, her children, Alfred Hugh Stevenson, JaAnne Stevenson Dezenzio (Patrick) and JoAnne Stevenson Headrick, and her loving daughter-in-law, Jenny Stevenson; her six loving grandchildren, Christina Schwartz (Adam), Natalie Stevenson, Hunter Dezenzio, and Katie Headrick, all of Birmingham, Alabama, Steven Butt of Portland Oregon, and Emily Jones (Josh) from Los Angeles, California; sisters, Leah Jeromcheck, Cherry Honrath and brother, Clifford (Marlys) Friesz, all of Mandan, North Dakota; her treasured friends, Myra Grissom Harper and Jane Holder; and many other relatives and friends.

The graveside service will be at 2 p.m. on Sunday, October 27, 2019 at Southern Heritage Cemetery in Pelham, Alabama.