01/17/1971 - BIRTHDAY COIFFURE - Mrs. Beatrice Stephenson, 162 Riverside, has her hair done in anticipation of her 101st birthday Sunday. Mrs. Zelma Stephen, standing behind Mrs. Stephenson, has done her hair for the past seven years. Mrs. Stephenson was El Paso's oldest Mother of the Year at the age of 97.
May 14, 1967
Sammie Ann Wicks
El Paso Times -
El Paso’s Oldest Mother doesn’t mind letting her ankles show.
There were days, though, said Mrs. Beatrice Stephenson, 97, of 162 Riverside, when a woman’s feet had to be covered, even when she was riding a horse. She recalled the concealing attire she wore in her native Oak Valley, Kan., with long, black skirts “that nearly swept the ground.”
Mrs. Stephenson has adjusted to the times she lives in and now consents to wear her skirts much shorter – two or three inches below the knee, which is short enough, she thinks, for a lady.
And a lady she is, with a wealth of living behind her, and a hundred clever tales about the old days.
She was born Beatrice Dexter Jan. 17, 1870, the daughter of homesteaders in Elk County, Kansas, and is today one of two members of her family that remain. Her nephew, Ed Dexter, 90, resides in Wichita, Kan.
NO DOCTORS – Still in excellent health, Mrs. Stephenson lays her vital old age partly to the fact she has never seen a doctor. When a fall she had, rushing out to gather in the clothes, three years ago put her in bed, her daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Irwin, summoned a physician and long-time friend of Mrs. Stephenson.
The doctor replied, “Why, she wouldn’t even let me in the door.” Shortly thereafter she got up and went about her normal routine, which then consisted of cooking, sewing, reading and gardening. She still makes the beds and the morning coffee and is an avid reader of magazines, books and her much-used Bible.
She married P.E. Stephenson in 1902, a Santa Fe railroad agent who died in 1914, leaving her to rear her two children alone, a job she seems to have done thoroughly, which included giving them an education.
She was a school teacher for many years, having completed high school and attended a teacher’s college in southwestern Oklahoma.
She also made all her children’s clothes, using an old treadle-powered Singer.
“When I first used one of these new electrics, I’d sit down and start to treadle and then remember it had its own power,” she said.
Mrs. Stephenson recalls when the first automobiles came out and evidently decided to stick to the horse and buggy and let other people do the driving.
She told of trying to maneuver a new Model A down the road and ending up over an “embankment.” She didn’t give up, though, and tried again, hitting a fire hydrant. She never drove again.
Mrs. Stephenson had lived in Kansas, Oklahoma, Arizona, Utah and Texas. When asked what she thought of Texas, after commenting that it was pretty hot and dry, the charming Kansan replied it was fine climate to live in (El Paso’s) because “there aren’t as many cyclones as there are in other parts of the country.”
With 97 years of experience, she has made quite a reputation as a cook and before the thin-sliced butter-crunch days of the modern bakery used to put out better than six loaves of home-made bread several times a week, that “melted in your mouth,” according to her daughter.
CAKES FAMOUS – She was commissioned often to make wedding cakes for local parties when she lived in Oklahoma, where she is probably still famous for her angel food cake, “that didn’t come out of a box.”
She is a vital link with a past far-removed from this space-age, and remembered stories her mother told of dealing and trading with the Indians to survive in the rugged prairie land.
Her father served as captain in the Union Army during the Civil War and she recalled enthusiastically “when he got his mustering-out papers.”
Mrs. Stephenson has only recently restricted her activities and doesn’t attend the Methodist Church as she used to do. She goes to the beauty shop faithfully three to four times a month to keep her snowy hair waved and in place.
Coming from a family of eight, she is quietly proud of her four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Her two grandsons, Richard and Kirk Irwin, live in El Paso with their families and teach in area schools.
Mrs. Stephenson follows winners of the Oldest Mother of El Paso contest sponsored by the El Paso Times, including Mrs. Beatrice Ortiz of 7549 Parral, who won in 1966, and Mrs. Dorothy (Aunt Dolly) Porter, who won in 1965.
Two other 97-year-old El Paso mothers were nominated. Mrs. Margarita Carbajal of 154 Irma was born Feb. 22, 1870 and Mrs. Dominga Robali of 713 S. Oregon was born May 12, 1870.
Those nominated, 90 or above, included: Mrs. R. J. Ward, 3729 Savannah; Mrs. Elizabeth Kessel, 4312 Bliss; Mrs. Myrtle Ivey, 4414 Oxford; Mrs. Lucy McCamant, 2501 N. Piedras; Mrs. Gertrude L. Johnson, 323 N. Oregon; Mrs. Lenora Brooks, 6329 Wieland; Mrs. Nora Mills, 3710 Morehead; Mrs. Minnie A. Ruder, 2729 Porter; Mrs. C. H. Appleton, 1730 Wyoming; Mrs. Belle Spivey, 901 Ash; Mrs. Beulah Miller, 1221 E. San Antonio; Mrs. Willella Andrews, 1221 Honeysuckle; Mrs. Minnie Lee Cox, 8320 Capitan; Mrs. Delfina Carrasco, 139 Courchesne; Mrs. Effie McNutt, 6424 Byron; Mrs. Nirvia A. Curtis, 2224 Montana; Mrs. R. J. Furst, 5365 Charl Ann; Mrs. Nellie Akard, 2014 N. Stanton; Mrs. Bertha M. Keehn, 5104 Raymond Telles; Mrs. J. W. Lane, 115 Frontier; Mrs. Bessie Schaer, 1221 E. San Antonio; Mrs. Louella May Lane, 3400 Volcano; Mrs. Edward H. Loiselle, 9817 Daphne; Mrs. Maud Black, 7860 Juliet; Mrs. Mary E. Combs, 4429 Emory; Mrs. Nellie Mudgett, 2729 Porter; Mrs. Carrie L. Snyder, 1408 Oakdale.
Nominees, 80 or above, included: Mrs. Maria Rodriguez, 8248 Strickland; Mrs. Narcisa Mahle, 432 Dolan; Mrs. A. Z. Caracena, 3226 Frutas; Mrs. Maria Vasquez, 508 S. Kansas; Mrs. Maud T. Bentley, 5252 Doniphan; Mrs. George Drake, 405 Riverside; Mrs. Edith Henderson, 834 Mission; Mrs. Ignacio G. Valles, 3600 Pera; Mrs. Annie Thompson, 3613 Mountain; Mrs. Catherine Elliott, 1221 E. San Antonio; Mrs. Jesusita B. Hernandez, Rt. 1, Box 316, Ysleta; Mrs. Minnie B. Duvall, 2700 Gold; Mrs. Bertha Ivey, 8112 Catalpa; Mrs. Julia May, 459 S. Mary’s; Mrs. Francisca Flores, 1115 N. Laurel; Mrs. Mabel Taylor, 9605 Album; Mrs. Encarnacion B. Vera, 432 Charles; Mrs. Margarita Provencio, 8757 Lowds; Mrs. Mabel M. Hand, 352 Ben Swain; Mrs. Pauline S. Medina, 324 Encino; Mrs. Dolores G. Ochoa, 6262 Arapahoe; Mrs. Severa A. Sierra, 336 Carolina; Mrs. Federicia O. Telles, P.O. Box 156, Clint; Mrs. A. E. Elliott, 1100 N. Ochoa; Mrs. Myrtle Ledlow, 4120 Altura; Mrs. Antonio Bernal, 4401 E. Yandell; Mrs. L. L. Thurston, 3425 Nation; Mrs. Mary Kennedy, 2801 Pershing; Mrs. Petra M. Larson, 8729 Old Country; Mrs. Myrtle P. Jones, 208 Ramona; Mrs. Martha Jane Shoemaker, 9001 Mt. Caramel; Mrs. Lena Stout, 9621 Daugherty; Mrs. Francisca C. Gomez, 3712 Hamilton; Mrs. W. R. Ferguson, 2720 San Diego; Mrs. W. L. Cass, 5780 Will Ruth; Mrs. Juliana Rivera Enriquez, 3408 E. Gateway; Mrs. Minnie L. Harper, 5577 Hunt; Mrs. Jennie Baron, 5305 La Taste; Mrs. Samantha Lee Jackson, 1933 Harper; Mrs. Ellen Mary Millheim, 1009 Gloria.
Those nominated, 70 or above, included: Mrs. M. de Jesus Valdes, 2908 Sacramento; Mrs. Beatrice w. Palacios, 351 Val Verde; Mrs. Elsa Durant, P.O. Box 6318; Mrs. Maria
A. Chavez, 2424 Lebanon; Mrs. Helen Madden, 316 E. Rio Grande; Mrs. Juana G. Escobar, 5914 Tampa; Mrs. Florence May Shafer, 7078 Alameda; Mrs. Mary Folk, 1221 E. San Antonio; Mrs. Maria Taylor Olivas, 1401 E. Third; Mrs. Lillian L. Crowson, 1701 N. Mesa; Mrs. Maria Refugia Gutierrez, 1417 E. Missouri; Mrs. Carmen Luevano, 1509 N. Florence; Mrs. P.L. Grattan, 200 Davis; Mrs. Sarah F. Moore, 3708 Hamilton, and Mrs. Nellie Guyton, 2124 E. Yandell.
All others: Mrs. G. W. Frank, Box 302, Clint; Mrs. Minnie Hall, 5840 Swallow; Mrs. Antonio C. Sanchez, 1419 N. Kansas; Mrs. Guadalupe B. Guzman, 2004 Detroit; Mrs. K.H. McAlpine, 8509 Mt. Scott; Mrs. Anita G. Muston, 9800 Blue Wing; Mrs. Margie Blair, Box 1, Newman; Mrs. Akiko M. Cotton, 9326-B Wolf, and Mrs. Guadalupe Ramirez, 2414 Lebanon.
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