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ANNABELLE D. STEVENS

Tolleson, AZ, USA

May 20, 2019 - June 6, 2019

May 20, 2019 - Jun 6, 2019

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Annabelle Dowell was born on May 20, 1932 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was raised in a house full of love with her mother Catherine, her aunts Alice and Rachel, her uncle John and her grandmother Lucinda. She attended Philadelphia public schools graduating from Roxborough High School in 1950.

As a young child Annabelle became an active member of St. Paul’s Baptist Church and remained a member throughout her life. At St. Paul’s, Annabelle was fully involved in church life. As a young woman she was a Girl Scout leader, Sunday School Teacher, an active member of Service to the Community, President of the Women’s Society and the chair of the Elevator Committee. Under her leadership, Annabelle was instrumental in raising the funds necessary to install the elevator making it possible for the elderly and mobility challenged members of the church to join in the services in the Sanctuary. Annabelle always tried to make life better for the elders in the church and frequently took them on as her personal projects. She not only transported them back and forth to church on Sunday, but visited them when they were sick, took them to their medical appointments or took them on weekend get-a-ways to her house down the Jersey shore. St. Paul’s was important to her and not just on Sunday. She studied the Church constitution and always attended and spoke up at membership meetings. As she would say “I will speak up when things are going right and I will speak up when things are going wrong.” She never shied away from speaking or praying and frequently used the gift God gave her to provide spiritual peace to those in need. She fought long and hard for the church to lift its prohibition of women speaking from the pulpit and succeeded in breaking through that glass ceiling.

Annabelle’s first job was as a gift wrapper at Lit Brothers and every gift she ever gave was beautifully and professionally wrapped. In 1958, she began her 28 year career as a government employee first as a clerk typist with the Internal Revenue Service, next as a secretary with the Naval Supply Depo, and she ended her government service as the Administrative Assistant for the Federal Protective Service.

Annabelle married her high school sweetheart William “Heavy” Stevens in 1952 and they had two daughters, Roslyn and Cheryl. Although Annabelle and Heavy divorced in 1972, in 2017 they were reunited under the same roof in Arizona until Heavy’s death in 2018.

Annabelle had many interests all associated with her gift of gab. In 1966, after losing more than 50 pounds on the “new” weight loss program known as Weight Watchers, she became Weight Watchers first African American lecturer assisting dieters with their battle of the bulge four nights a week and Saturday morning at five different locations in the city while maintaining a full time job and raising her two daughters for more than 10 years. She was a founding member of the National Political Congress of
Black Women and worked diligently to educate others on all aspects of the political landscape. She also had an entrepreneurial spirit and sold everything from Classic Creations Jewelry, Dick Gregory’s Bahamian Diet to clothing from the factory outlets in New Hope, Pennsylvania.

Annabelle loved Philadelphia and reluctantly relocated to Arizona in 2011 after she was diagnosed with amyloidosis. She thrived for more than seven years in the desert; but she missed her beloved home town. Her body was in Arizona but her heart was truly in Philadelphia and she maintained a constant connection to the goings on in the City through friends and family. We have brought her back home to the city she loved. Although her recent illness came on suddenly and swiftly took her from our arms, she will never leave our hearts. Roslyn and Cheryl celebrate the life she lived, bask in the love she shared and know she was prepared for the ultimate transition because she has always known the love of the Lord.

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