KTM Blog
Happy 90th Birthday, Helen Stevens!
April 24, 2020
Happy 90th Birthday, Helen Stevens!
A conversation with KTM&HC Board President, Rhonda Hill
Helen reflects on what brings her joy, how women’s lives have changed during her lifetime, and how she’s spending time these days
Helen Stevens is a long-time KTM&HC supporter and volunteer. She used to put on workshops that taught people to create dried flower arrangements. And she helped with the Christmas Luncheons for many years. Helen shared some insights with us – what brings her joy, how women’s lives have changed, and how she’s spending her time. Oh, and turning 90.
Women’s Lives and her Career
“There are 30 years age difference between my daughter, Susan, and I, but the difference in what women of her generation can do and what was acceptable for my generation is about 100 years.”
Helen remembers thinking many years ago how she was so glad that she enjoyed being a mother to her four sons and one daughter and the homemaker for her family, because the other options were very limited and didn’t interest her. But the opportunities her daughter had, and those available to women today, are unlimited, she says.
When Susan, her youngest, was about to go to college, Helen and a friend bought a flower business from a neighbor. They provided seasonal artificial arrangements for corporate clients, decorated store windows, and created flower arrangements for weddings. She remembers her mother being concerned that going into business would make people think that her husband couldn’t provide for their family.
“Can you imagine someone thinking that today!?” she asks.
Helen had been in garden clubs for years, and she can’t get over how much she relates to plants, and how much joy they bring to her life. When it became her business, she said it was very labor intensive and a lot of lugging plants around, but a happy business. Her children used to tell her the business was another baby, and she doesn’t argue the point.
After 33 years, she and her business partner decided it was time to retire. She still loves plants, and finds them therapeutic, but the physical part of it is harder for her these days. KTM&HC’s caretaker, Roger Keller, now helps her with some of these chores.
On Turning 90 and Living During COVID-19
“If I’d known how nice being 90 years old was going to be, I’d have tried to get here sooner!” says Helen, whose 90th birthday is April 25.
Although her family was planning a big celebration, that’s been postponed because of COVID-19, as have many people’s planned events. She mused that even though there won’t be a party, lots of people are making a big deal about this particular birthday.
Helen appreciates her Ridgefield community. The Library is always one of her focal points, but since it’s been closed, Helen’s PEO sisters have provided bags of books (leaving them on her porch, abiding by appropriate no contact rules). People from First Congregational Church, where she’s been a member for 30 years, folks from Keeler Tavern Museum & History Center, and friends from the garden clubs are calling to check in.
She’s spending these COVID-19 days reading books, the New York Times and The New Yorker, knitting, watching old movies, and talking to friends and family members. And, of course enjoying her plants and spring flowers. Helen thinks flowers will be more important now, since everyone is spending more time at home.
People will want to enjoy flowers in their homes and yards, she says.
-RH