~ 1922 - 2021 ~
99 years of life and love
Sylvia Mae Stevens, the third child of Ralph Clark and Edna Fugel, was born in Mitchell, South Dakota. On the afternoon of April 30, 2021, she passed away peacefully at the Gene and Irene Wockner Hospice Center.
Sylvia spent her early life in South Dakota. As a young girl, she loved perfume. If she got a dime, she’d use it to buy a bottle of perfume, instead of a bar of chocolate. Like her dad, Sylvia was an athlete and loved running, ice skating and roller skating. She graduated from Mitchell High School and got her first job at Newberry’s Dime Store. Later, she took a transfer with the telephone company and moved with her best friend, and her mother, to Seattle, Washington.
Sylvia was a beautiful woman with a heart-shaped face and raven-black hair. In August 1943, she married Robert Jay Stevens, a young man with bright blue eyes and wavy hair. He went to high school with Sylvia but never got the courage to ask her out. They even worked together at Newberry’s Dime Store. When Bob’s courage finally did show up, it never quit. He proposed to her more than once before she finally said yes.
They'd been married for less than a month when Bob shipped out to Europe with the US Air Force—and an uncertain future fighting in World War II. They spent the next two years separated by nearly 5,000 miles, with Sylvia in Seattle and Bob stationed in London, England.
The old minister who had married them said he’d tied lots of knots and none of them had ever come undone. Bob and Sylvia promised not to break his record. And, they didn’t. They were married for 63 years until Bob’s passing in 2006. Together, they raised three children: Susan Wells, Robert Stevens, Jr. and Sheryl Stevens.
Family was always important to Sylvia. She helped care for two of her nephews, after her sister-in-law developed tuberculosis; and Sylvia’s mother, Edna, lived with the family for 17 years.
With money she'd saved during WWII, while working for The Boeing Company, she and Bob bought their first home. When their children were older, she took a job at Frederick and Nelson’s—and, every Christmas, brought home Frango chocolates.
Her faith in God was enduring. It sustained her. For three decades, she found great comfort and stability from her involvement with the Marysville Methodist Church and her community there.
The influence of Sylvia’s maternal Grandma Fugel, and her Norwegian heritage, were apparent in the careful way Sylvia had of preparing food, keeping house and presenting herself. With love-filled recipes warming the kitchen, oak cabinets and copper pots gleaming, Sylvia delighted in welcoming everyone to her well-ordered home. She was the emotional center for many; and she was dearly loved.
Sylvia was preceded in death by her husband Bob, her brothers Melvin and Clinton Clark, and her half-brothers Loran and Donald Clark. She is survived by her three children: Susan Wells, Robert Stevens, Jr. and Sheryl Stevens, in addition to six grandchildren, eleven great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren. Through the love she gave, and the values she imparted, the legacy of her life will live on through her extended family. She will be truly missed.
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