Amy Virginia Stevenson

Amy Virginia Ellis Stevenson died on December 1, 2023, less than a month after her 99^th birthday at the home she and her husband Joe built in 1966 on East Bay in Hickory Shores, Gulf Breeze, Florida. Amy was a dedicated wife, grandmother, great-grandmother, and friend. She loved to cook, sew, garden, and fish and raised chickens and rabbits. She was always ready to whip up a recipe at a moment’s notice if a visitor dropped in or if a neighbor or friend needed a meal. She loved to entertain and left her family with almost a dozen full index card boxes of recipes. Apologies to anyone who believes their family makes the best gumbo, but she made the undisputed best gumbo in the world. Despite freely sharing her recipe, no one is able to replicate it quite like her, so the the number one gumbo slot is available.

Amy was born November 9, 1924, in Jackson, Mississippi to Rev. James Calvin Ellis and Amy Edwina Cole Ellis. Her family soon after moved to Mobile, Alabama. Beautiful since birth, she won first prize in the 1926 Better Babies Contest in Mobile’s Progress Exposition. Likely her heartwarming smile she had throughout her life won over the judges. She skipped a grade in school and graduated from Murphy High School where she was a drum major, graduated top of her class, and was affectionately referred to as “Shorty.” She played piano and organ, and, having an exceptional signing voice, sang at Toulminville United Methodist Church, where her father was the minister. She was awarded a scholarship in voice to Columbia University but decided to pursue fashion design at the University of Alabama instead. With her sister Dottie, she was a proud second-generation member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority of which her aunts Edith and Medora Cole were chapter founders. In 1942, while attending a fraternity/sorority mixer at a football game, she met her husband, Joe. After Joe was drafted in 1943, they quickly married in May across the state line because she was too young to be married in Alabama. Her sorority sisters held a reception for them at the Alpha Chi Omega house while Amy’s mother, having learned of the plan, made a hurried drive from Mobile to try to talk the young couple into waiting. Luckily for 3 children, 10 grandchildren, and 17 great grandchildren, Mrs. Ellis arrived too late, and their marriage lasted 78 years until Joe’s death.

After the war, Amy and Joe settled in Pensacola where they raised their three children, Joey, Roy, and Becky. Amy was a talented artist and fashion designer and worked at Gayfers where she hand drew advertisements for women’s fashion for the Pensacola News Journal. She was active in the choirs at Gadsden Street Methodist Church and St. Mark’s Methodist Church and was a proud den mother for the Cub Scouts. She designed and sewed wedding dresses for many young women around town and made clothing for her children and grandchildren. Amy loved to fish and was excited to build a home on East Bay near where her aunts lived in Hickory Shores. Standing a mere four foot eleven inches, Amy could throw a perfect circle with a 9-foot cast net and would clean mullet and fry them the same day. After retiring, a typical day for Amy could consist of catching mullet early in the morning, serving it with grits for a child or grandchild for breakfast, working in her garden or tending to her animals, cooking lunch, sewing or knitting while watching Days of Our Lives, returning to the garden, cooking dinner, and either sewing or playing with grandkids. She loved to watch her grandchildren swim in the bay, and the fish fries Joe and she held at their house were legendary. She played bridge every Thursday for over 50 years until she could no longer play. She also collected Depression glass and loved a garage sale or antique shop. She and Joe were long time active members of Gulf Breeze United Methodist Church where she was a member of the United Methodist Women and most recently was a member of the Community Life Center Methodist Church.

Amy was a perfect example of a lady. She taught her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren poise and etiquette. She had perfect handwriting. She expected good grammar and loved to sing and read with her grandchildren. When frustrated, she would refrain from swearing and instead would say “oh dirty word.” She was thrifty, reusing everything. She would even wash and reuse ziplock bags and aluminum foil. Rather than buy disposable food containers, she saved most leftovers in Cool Whip containers. If a family member, neighbor, or friend was sick or had a loss, she would quickly fix a meal, get dressed in nice fashion and jewelry, and deliver a meal in a corningware dish with “Amy S” written on masking tape. She could cook anything. Her kitchen always had something cooking. She was generous beyond measure. Family and friends were most precious to her. The matriarch of a large, loving family, her family and friends will miss her gentle and steady presence and example. As William Alexander Percy said, “there are no old ladies now.”

Amy was preceded in death by her parents, her aunts Edith Tompkins and Medora Phaneuf, her sister Dorothea Sarver, and her son Joseph “Joey” Ellis Stevenson, Jr. She is survived by her children Roy James Stevenson of Gulf Breeze and Rebecca Scrivner Lemmon of Chumuckla and her husband Asa; her grandchildren Amy Elizabeth Stevenson Clanton and her husband Greg of Gulf Breeze, Anna Ellise Stevenson of Pensacola, Daniel Stevenson and his wife Mariette of Gulf Breeze, Samuel Stevenson of Gulf Breeze, Eric Stevenson and his wife Carrie of Pensacola, David Stevenson and his wife Jessica of Navarre, Horace Isaac Stevenson of Jacksonville, Joy Stevenson Williams and her husband Troy of Jacksonville, Sarah Stevenson Wiggins and her husband Josh of St. Augustine, Christine Connell Bogdanovic and her husband Alex of Tampa, Ben Scrivner of Pensacola, Sara Scrivner Seuzeneau and her husband David of Pensacola, and Kristen Scrivner Beck and her husband Justin of Pensacola. She is also survived by her great grandchildren: Joey and Hannah Clanton, Harper and Emily Stevenson, Amelia, Charlette, and Tillie Stevenson, Joseph “Cole” and Lucy Adams Stevenson, Ella and Autumn Stevenson and Jaylynn and Isaac Caron, Trever and Tyler Williams, Wesley and Zachary Wiggins, Jacob and Gwyneth Baehr, Paige and Emily Seuzeneau, and Hudson, Shepard, and Ingrid Beck.

Her family would like to extend a special thank you to Roy Stevenson for living with and caring for Joe and Amy the past 5 years and helping them live out the end of their lives in their home to so many family members and friends. We also owe our gratitude to Emerald Coast Hospice for their help in the home and to Amy’s caregivers Yari, Kayra, Kandra, and Fonda who were so kind to her in her last years.

Amy’s funeral will begin at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, December 18, 2023, at St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church, 1. St. Francis Drive, Gulf Breeze with a reception immediately after followed by graveside services at Rose Lawn Cemetery in Gulf Breeze. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Amy’s name to the St. Jude Foundation.