Happy Birthday, Will

It’s been 127 years since William Alfred Stevens was born on this day in Fort Wayne. However, since we’ve been talking about Will, his father John Kelly Stevens, and Agnes Tully Stevens and Theresa Blaising Stevens, the two women in their lives, it seemed timely to add this postscript—and to remember these four people, not as we left them at the end, but as they were in their hearts from the prime of their lives.

Will evidently had a lifetime of remembering his step-mother, Theresa. She remembered forlornly in one of her last letters to her daughter-in-law Agnes how she missed his calls in the afternoons. But even in the beginning of his adult life, Will made a point of contacting her.

Dated June 14, 1912, only two days after Will and Agnes were married, and postmarked from Rome City, Indiana, came this postcard, probably the first of many such contacts between the Stevens household in Chicago and that of his parents. While greeting both Mother and Dad, the card was actually addressed to Mrs. J. K. Stevens.

Dear Mother + Dad:

This is a delightful place for a good rest. We are the only guests at this hotel. Hope you had a nice trip home— Will see you Saturday.

Love—from Agnes and Will