Funeral: 11 a.m. Tuesday at First United Methodist Church Mansfield, 777 N. Walnut Creek Drive, Mansfield. Interment: 1 p.m. Wednesday in Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery in Houston. Visitation: The family will receive guests 4 to 7 p.m. Monday at Moore Funeral Home-Bowen Road.
Florence was born May 22, 1919, in Houston. She graduated from Reagan High School in Houston and worked for Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. She married Elton L. Stephenson of Houston in 1943 and they both attended Lon Morris College in Jacksonville, Texas. She worked as a publishing secretary for Pipeline Digest in Houston and later as a financial secretary for First United Methodist Church in Houston. Together in marriage they had three children, Donna, Clyde and Joel.
Florence was a United Methodist pastor's wife for over 40 years. She was also a member of First United Methodist Church Mansfield as well as member of the John Wesley Sunday School Class, and a member of the Stitches of Love quilting group.
Florence dedicated her life to helping others by using the gift of sewing to create bandages for leprosy patients and later making both lap quilts and premature baby quilts for sick children at Fort Worth's Cook Children's Hospital. Since taking up quilting and joining the Stitches of Love quilting group at First United Methodist Church Mansfield, she has completed over 315 quilts with over 20 more in various stages of completion that she has left behind. Earlier this year she received a photo of one child who had received one of her quilts. This photograph was very uplifting for her and renewed her desire to continue sewing for these special children.
Florence was preceded in death by her husband of almost 60 years, Rev. Elton L. Stephenson of Houston, in 2003; parents, Alois John Schreiber and Emma Frieda Hoffman Schreiber; two sisters, Cornelia Pauline Schreiber-Hughes and Jeanette Schreiber Anton; and brother, A.J. Schreiber, who died at infancy.
Survivors: Florence leaves to cherish her memories, daughter, Donna Lynn Gostecnik and husband, David, of Round Rock; son, Clyde Elton Stephenson and wife, Pamela, of Humble; daughter-in-law, Janet Stephenson of Houston; son, Joel Stephenson and wife, Suellen, of Mansfield; grandchildren, Jennifer Stephenson Al-Sulais and husband, Tony, of Houston, Matthew David Gostecnik of Round Rock, Angelia Stephenson Cochran and husband, John, serving in the U.S. Navy in Jacksonville, Fla., Ryan Wallace Stephenson and Clinton Thomas Stephenson of Mansfield; great-grandchildren, Hanna Al-Sulais and Zachary Al-Sulais of Houston and J.C. Cochran of Jacksonville, Fla.
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