Obituary of Muriel Elaine Elvira Stevens
STEVENS, Muriel Elaine Elvira
Muriel Stevens passed on July 6th, 2021 at the Parkland, Saint John, Shannex.
Muriel Elaine Elvira Stevens (nee Groom) was born at home on Sunday, March 18th, 1934. Her father Wilfred Groom and her mother Augusta Groom (nee McKay) and their extended family lived alongside the Digdequash River in Elmsville, N.B. Muriel went to a one-room school on the Roix Road and graduated from the St. George Superior School along with her best friend Isabel Martin (nee Stevens) in 1950. Muriel married Isabel’s older brother Leo Stevens on November 1st, 1958 at Christ Church in Elmsville. His luckiest day.
The couple settled in Saint John where Muriel found employment with the New Brunswick Telephone Company and where she worked for over 40 years. Leo made his way into a job with the Canadian Pacific Railway and the two purchased a new home and raised their family in East Saint John. Northumberland Avenue filled with young families and the neighbourhood teamed with children. When the city approved a development that would see a large increase in vehicular traffic, Muriel would have none of it. She rallied the troops and had Common Council erect a permanent barricade at the Rothesay Avenue access point. It’s there to this day.
Muriel was a lifetime member of the Order of The Eastern Star rising to the position of Worthy Grand Matron and cherished its benevolence and the fraternity of her many life-long friends. And, with Muriel, going to church every Sunday was not optional -- rain or shine, snow or sleet. St. Mary’s St. Bartholomew’s was a focal point of her children’s upbringing, whether it was Sunday School, Confirmation, Procession Duty, Cub Scouts, or Brownies. Going to church and getting an education was what mattered most.
After retirement, she and Leo travelled extensively on tours and cruises of every sort and to every far-flung destination. Their home filled with photos of the two standing atop this mountain or that, hugging a koala bear, or wandering about some colourful market or foreign bazaar. Muriel always kept active and walked every day in Fernhill Cemetery where she tamed and hand-fed a platoon of groundhogs. The grounds’ keepers, who may not have been so keen on her furry friends, called her ‘the carrot lady’.
Muriel is survived by her daughter Andrea Stevens-Blackmore of Saint John and Lakeville Corner (and husband Lonnie) as well as by her son Richard Stevens of Halifax, Nova Scotia. We would like to thank the staff of Shannex Rockwood for their compassion and care. Our mother was an amazing person, she will be missed terribly, she’s in a better place.
No services are planned. In lieu of flowers, cards, or donations, we ask: might you never walk by another person collecting for Alzheimer’s Disease without thinking, ‘Maybe I should drop a loonie in the tin.’ Arrangements are under the care of Brenan’s Funeral Home, 111 Paradise Row, Saint John, 634-7424. Online condolences may be placed at www.brenansfh.com.
