Annette Aiken Stephens

Annette Aiken Stephens


June 23, 1930 – January 11, 2017

Annette Aiken Stephens, 86, of Atlanta, GA died peacefully of Alzheimer's, surrounded by her family.

As a child, Annette worked long hours on a small farm outside Pennington, Georgia. Because of her older siblings' generosity, she was able to attend the Georgia State College for Women, after which she taught science classes at public schools in Atlanta, Paulding County, Cobb County, and Athens. She was the first person in the State of Georgia to teach an ecology class at the high-school level.

Annette was deeply kind and loving, with a gift for understanding other people's very different points of view. She was passionate about environmental issues and loved gardening. Ever since she was a child, she believed in civil rights for all human beings and in the importance of confronting prejudice; as an officer for the United Methodist Women, she emphasized the importance of social service. She loved singing in the choir—from the Fauré Requiem to calypso hymns. With her husband and children, she travelled—usually camping—throughout the United States and Canada, western Europe, Japan, and Ecuador. In Costa Rica, she helped on building projects. She backpacked into the Grand Canyon four times. She relished new experiences. Even in the final stages of her Alzheimer's, she never forgot how to say, "I love you."

Annette is survived by her husband, Wesley Daniel Stephens; her children, Amy Lynn Stephens, Daniel Curtis Stephens, Dorothy Anne Stephens, and James Wesley Stephens; her daughter-in-law, K Ann Berry; her granddaughter, Helen Annette Berry Stephens; and her brother, William Moore.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that donations be made to the World Wildlife Fund at www.worldwildlife.org and to the Nature Conservancy at www.nature.org, organizations that Annette supported for decades.

There will be two memorial services: one at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 28th, at Athens First United Methodist Church, and the other at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 29th, at Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church in Atlanta.

The family welcomes any comments made in the online guestbook below.


Funeral Home:
A. S. Turner & Sons
2773 North Decatur Road
Decatur, GA
30033