Biographies        |       Events        |       Organizations        |       Products        |       Poetry Page        |       Search

UQ Home       |       Go to Uncrowned Kings       |        Go to Uncrowned Community Builders       |

BIOGRAPHY:  Vera Elizabeth Stephenson

Teacher, leader, nurse, entrepreneur, author, and craftswoman, Vera Elizabeth (Huffman) (Pitts) Stephenson mothered and mentored a host of persons, young and old.  Her students matriculated at Tuskegee, Howard and Brown Universities, Livingston College, University of Rochester, Morehouse, Dartmouth, Harvard, University of Nevada, and Stanford. 

Born on April 27, 1907 in Snoudon, Alabama, she was the beloved fourth child of Frances and Nathaniel Huffman.  They named her Viola, but the midwife recorded the name "Vera" on her birth certificate, instead.  Her eldest brother Raymond Brown, her sister Stella Mae, and her brother Booker Taliferro preceded her in death. 

Mother Frances was the offspring of an enslaved Native American woman and Slaver.  Father Nathaniel was one of 7 children (6 sons and a daughter) who built their homes and farmed on the land owned by their father in Snoudon.  Upon Grandfather Huffman's death, family lore records say that a "white man" who did the paperwork for him, took ownership of the land deceitfully, forcing the sons and their families off of their land.   Conveniently, the Courthouse of Snoudon was burned down, destroying all the records of land ownership. 
  
Though he suffered from severe asthma, Vera remembers her father as "a very smart man," who was the first in their farm community to have an automobile.  His frail health may have contributed to Vera's lifelong interest in healthcare.  The family hosted the One-Room-School-Teacher during the week, taking her back and forth to Montgomery when they took their produce to market.  She just loved her teacher, no doubt because of her mother's great confidence in education.  A favorite story was how Mother Frances wasted no time gathering all of her children into her carriage to make the trip to hear the esteemed educator, Booker T. Washington when he came to speak in their area.

While in her early teens, Vera lost her father after a brief stay and complications in the hospital.  Within a year or two, her mother packed the family up to join a host of loving relatives in Montgomery, Alabama.  There, Vera matriculated from Mrs. White's Technical School for Girls. She became a grade school teacher.  Raymond joined the Service, Booker also passed away and she and Stella moved with their mother, a gifted seamstress and astute business woman, to Birmingham, Alabama.  As the youngest, she stayed especially close to her mother and worked with her.  Then, she met and married, Mr. Jessie Pitts.  From this union came the light of her life and their only child, Dr. Gertrude Juanita Pitts. 

For Vera, family was first and she kept up with them all.  A few years before daughter, "Nita" went off to school in Chicago, Illinois, she remarried, this time to Mr. Collins Stephen-son.  Her mother also remarried.  Having amassed a number of properties, upon the death of her step-father as her mother's age began to contribute to a frail condition, she was prepared.  Ever industrious, Vera no longer worked for others dedicating herself to property management, care of the two households and the welfare of family and community.  An independent thinker with an easy grace and stylish beauty, Vera also found success in her own independent marketing business that helped with her precocious daughter's college expenses.  In addition to his work in manufacturing, Collins demonstrated a natural ability at property development.  Together, the family did quite well.  

Vera went on to earn her Nursing certification.  She followed in her mother's footsteps to become an Usher at St Luke A.M.E. Zion Church of Birmingham. She was soon elected and served over ten years as Usher Board President. She was constantly writing.  A number of years later, when her mother suffered a paralyzing stroke, she brought her home to give her total care until her death. Meanwhile, daughter "Nita" married Dr. Julian O. Carroll, then simultaneously began her medical residency and had her first child.  Weeks before the birth of her first grandchild, Vera's beloved mother, Frances passed away.  Joy replaced grief as she became the adored "Nana" and life-long second mother to her 7 grandchildren.  Though the first 3 children stayed with her and Collins or Mother-in-Law Pitts in Birmingham, from time to time, as Julian and Juanita completed their residencies, she was persuaded to join Team New York, when Nita and husband opened a private practice.  Juanita did pediatrics and family care while Julian did obstetrics and gynecology in their offices in Rochester, New York.  Though the original plan was for Vera to provide nursing skills to the practice, when appropriate childcare proved unavailable, she chose to utilize her medical and teaching knowledge for the benefit of her seven "grands" becoming the true family jewel.

Despite the intense demands of caring for a growing number of grandchildren, to support Juanita, she became a founding volunteer staffer of Juanita's brainchild, Rochester's first church-based, urban childcare center at the historic Memorial A.M.E. Zion church.  Still going strong today, the program became the first such center to qualify to receive Headstart Funding. 

Her 25 years of leadership with the Usher Board prepared her to work with Bishop Fulton J. Sheen and to give volunteer leadership at the CYO (Catholic Youth Organization).  When Collins passed, she relocated, to Rochester, permanently.  In addition to community work, she dedicated time to sewing and craftwork.  She was also a voracious reader and did more writing.  Her memorable works are compiled in Vera's Verses.   In the community, she provided Public Relations at Lifespan Oasis and, later as a spokesperson for Seniors, she became a Director on the Lifespan Board of Directors. 

The person the main character of East Birmingham Analogues was modeled after, she was "kidnapped" by her Grands in her late '90s living in California, Illinois and Texas until her death at the age of 101.