A Mother's Attic Treasures

A few of the books written by author Dorothy Stephens- photo by Debbi Collar.

Other photo credits -The author photo for both Willow Run and Africa Calling, Laurie Stephens. The cover of Willow Run was designed by Carolyn Andrus of Melange Books.

Letters Dorothy Stephens wrote to her Mother many years ago opened the door to what led to her becoming an author. Her first novel is about her travels to Nairobi,Kenya in the late 1950s. Its title, "Kwa Heri Means Goodbye - Memories of Kenya 1957-1959."

Author of four novels, Dorothy Stephens. ( photo credit- Olan Mills)

Although she did have an interest in writing, putting a novel together about her life story wasn't something she had ever expected to accomplish. Those letters her mother had saved sparked the release of her first book. ."Luckily my mother kept all the letters I wrote for those two years and gave them back to me. Years later I was rummaging around in the attic, looking for something, and I came across the letters. I spent that whole weekend reading them. The memories came pouring out, and I began to write what turned out to be "Kwa Heri Means Goodbye."

Letters she once wrote to her mother led to the publication of Dorothy Stephens first novel.(photo taken at the Ndutu Safari Lodge in the Serengeti.by Dorothy Stephens.)

Today, Dorothy Stephens is not only an accomplished journalist but has written four books,"Kwa Heri Means Goodbye, Memories of Kenya 1957-1959,," "A Door Just Opened," "Africa Calling Me Back" and her most recent novel, "Willow Run." Stephens also co-authored "Discovering Marblehead - A Guide to Open Spaces and Historic Places." Marblehead was her home for over four (4) decades.

The idea for the guide was Dennis Curtin's, a writer/photographer/naturalist

Stephens said, it was Marblehead resident, Dennis Curtin, who "recruited a group of six before we started this project, Beth Houghton, who got me on board. Dennis and I were the co-authors, Beth was the coordinator who kept us all on track, Leigh Webster was the graphic artist, Laurie Levine was our researcher, and of course, Jay Johnson did the maps and he and Dennis the photographs. It took us several years to get it done."

Once the guide had been completed, the profits were donated to a good cause. "The book is only sold at one or two shops in Marblehead and at the Farmer's Market there in summer. It's too bad, because all of the several printings sold out quickly and generated profits of $50,000 that the the group who produced the book donated to the Marblehead Conservancy."

Education

Stephens reflected on her education from her time in the Garden State and throughout her lifetime.

"I grew up in New Jersey, loved reading, and always had a book in my hand. I loved writing too, and welcomed writing assignments in school, including assigned papers in college. But it never occurred to me to write anything on my own."

Her education continued along many paths,"I finished my Master’s degree in Elementary Education in the early 1980s, and after taking all those required courses in Educational Psychology, History of Education, Philosophy of Education, Statistics, etc, I decided to do something just for me, something I really wanted to do. I signed up for creative writing courses at Lesley College, and began writing. For many years I wrote articles for national newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Adventure Cycling, Larcom Review and many others. A lot of it was travel writing."

Her first novel reveals the time period in which Stephens' husband, Robert, had joined the United States Information Agency in the 1950s. She writes in her book that she expected that there would be a time when her husband would receive an assignment from the agency that would take them and their family to a different part of the world. She recalls that it was shortly after she read the book entitled "Something of Value" by author Robert Ruark, about the Mau Mau uprising a book she says that she found "frightening." She remembers making the remark to her husband, "You wouldn't expect me and the children to go there...would you?"

Soon after she had raised that question, Robert received his "orders" and she found herself and the family packing for a two year assignment in that area, Nairobi, Kenya.

Her husband was excited about his assignment. He had been appointed Vice Consul and Cultural Affairs Officer of the United States Information Service in Nairobi (known as the United States Information Agency in the U.S., United States Information Service or U.S.I.S. overseas).

At that time in 1957, she had three children, Cathy, Robbie and the youngest, Kelly, a 2 year old.

Family talent

Asked whether her children mind reading about themselves and the family's experiences within her published memoirs, she says, "My children don’t seem to mind being mentioned in my books, and I think they enjoy reliving those times in Kenya. Our daughter Laurie was born in 1960, almost a year after we returned from Kenya."

Some members of the family also have shown some interest in following in their mother's literary footsteps. Added to the list of writers in the family, she includes her grandchildren and great grandchildren who also show an interest in writing.

"My son likes to write but has not yet attempted to have anything published. He has some great stories to tell about his years running a boatyard in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands."

According to Stephens, her daughter, Kelly, had also showed promise with the written word,"Kelly was a talented writer. She wrote poetry and nonfiction articles, many about feminist issues and education, some of them published in various publications in the Boston area and in Indonesia."

Kelly tragically passed away in June of 1993 at the age of 37 when climbing a volcano with friends. Her mother devotes a chapter to her daughter in the novel Africa Calling Me Back. According to written accounts the eruption of the volcano, Anak Krakatau, occurred 24 miles off the west coast of Java Indonesia."

Kenneth Reich of The Times also stated that Kelly Elizabeth Stephens, for nine years, "trained teachers in Indonesia, taught English in universities and government ministries, and planned, established, and supervised English-language centers throughout the country." One of her hobbies was tclimbing volcanoes.

Within the pages of her book, Kwa Heri Means Gioodbye, readers can catch a glimpse of Kelly as a 2 year old, her experiences with her family and with the servants in Kenya. In a rcent interview, Dorothy Stephens related that, "The loss of Kelly was devastating. It’s something you never get over. You just learn to live with it"

Another tragedy struck the family when her oldest daughter Cathy died in 2007 of a massive heart attack. Cathy was 61.

Travel memories of her children

As to the memories the three older children had of their time in Kenya, Stephens states that her children,"always loved being out in the bush, seeing all the animals in their natural habitat. So they loved the safaris, and the school vacations spent at the Coast on the Indian Ocean. They all learned to ride horseback, and that was another favorite activity, especially the “hacks” when they rode on trails in the bush and through African villages."

Special spaces for the author

Author Dorothy Stephens has visited many places throughout the world. She admits to having a few favorites, "I’ve spent considerable time in the Caribbean, mostly but not exclusively, in the US and British Virgin Islands. I love it there for vacations and for sailing, but would not be content to live there. Too confining."

She further said. "One of my favorite places was an island we used to co-own with friends in the St. Lawrence River Thousand Islands, where we spent time during more than 20 summers. I also have a strong attachment to Indonesia, where Kelly spent the last nine years of her life. I have been there three times, and have many Indonesian friends. Bob and I set up a scholarship in Kelly’s memory at Boston University School of Education for Indonesian educators to get their master’s degree. So far we have had 25 Scholars whom we have gotten to know and with whom I keep in touch. Most are back in Indonesia in influential roles, working to improve the quality of education there."

Returning to Africa

Stephens and her husband, Robert found themselves years later planning a trip back to Kenya, in 1987, 30 years after their original time there, it was a man named Jerry Morris at The Boston Globe who she called to asked if the newspaper travel section might be interested in articles about their return visit.

Morris was interested and gave her some advice, "He said to keep a journal, take photos, gather up maps, articles, brochures, anything about where I was and what I was seeing, write it up when I got back, and send it to him. I did as he suggested, and he published my article in the Globe travel section. That led me into more travel writing for years, so I owe a lot to Jerry."

The outcome was her book, "Africa Calling Me Back."

Cover photo taken byDorothy Stepphens on her return trip to Africa.

Comparing both trips to the area, Stephens account of the return visit found many changes. "When Bob and I went back to Kenya in 1987, it was to do research and interviews for his own book, Kenya Student Airlifts to America; 1959-1961 which I was helping him with. (published in 2013)."

I was also taking notes for Kwa Heri to fill in some of the gaps in my memory. The changes were dramatic—the Africanization of all aspects of Kenya life and society as opposed to Kenya still being a British colony in the 1950s. It was satisfying to see Africans now in charge of their own country, and many changes were for the better, like education being available for all Africans—at the elementary, high school and university levels. Under the British there were few opportunities for Africans to access education. There were only two high schools in all of Kenya for six million Africans, and one university, Makerere in Uganda."

Women she had met in the late 1950s had also discovered a new way of life,"The other amazing change" she noted," was in the women, many of whom had leaped into the 20th century, had moved out of their villages, learned to speak English, gotten an education , and were doctors, lawyers, college professors, teachers, businesswomen, all in the space of one generation. I have a whole chapter about this in "Africa Calling Me Back."

Historically,Stephens added, "Kenya has had some struggles like other African nations as it tried to build a democratic society, with corruption in the government, unemployment, poverty and mostly petty crime. But nevertheless it remains one of the most stable and prosperous countries in Africa with many things in its favor, including its natural beauty and resources, cash crops like tea, coffee, and flowers for the European market, incredible animals, and a sizable middle class. In my book I compare it to a teenager struggling toward adulthood, and I wish it well"

Careers

In the span of her lifetime, she has held many jobs, "My first job was a summer job after my senior year in high school, for the New Jersey Public Service bus company in their payroll department. I, along with dozens of other women, sat at long rows of desks all day and added up--with pencil and paper!--columns of figures documenting the hours worked and pay owed to New Jersey bus drivers each week. We worked 9 to 5, but often we were told at the last minute that we had to work overtime, from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM. We were paid one dollar, to be added to our $18 a week salary. Hard to believe these days!"

After earning her college degree, Stephens recalled,My first job after college was teaching chemistry part-time at Lexington, Virginia High School. My husband was just out of the army after WWII and was finishing his BA degree at Washington and Lee University. The chemistry teacher at the high school died suddenly and I was hired to teach her one class, for which I was not well qualified. My major had been history and political science, with a minor in general science. I followed the text book and did my best, but I pity those poor kids when they got to college and discovered the gaps in their knowledge of chemistry."

Stephens continues,"For a while I worked, again part time, for Heinz Baby Food in marketing, which involved going door to door with free samples of baby food and trying to convince mothers that Heinz was the best. All my jobs since then have been teaching, in preschool, kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 3rd 4th, and 5th grades, plus student teaching 7th and 12th grades. I’ve taught in Syracuse, NY; Nairobi, Kenya; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; and Marblehead, Massachusetts."

Still active

Now in her 90s,Stephens shows no sign of slowing down,"I do Water Walking at the pool and use the Nustep at the fitness center. When it’s open!( She is referring to the current coronavirus quarantine.) "I’m lucky to have a balcony, so right now I walk a circuit around the apartment, out the bedroom door to the balcony, back in through the living room door, and on around and around, twenty minutes twice a day. I get some exercise and fresh air, and get to check the activities of the birds on the pond."

She doesn't stop there,"I still go to my church in Marblehead, sing in the choir, and help run an Over 60 group (which we should probably rename the Over 80 group.)"

She also keeps up with the latest news and events ,"I’m still interested in politics and history, and try to keep informed. I was active in local politics in Maryland and in Michigan, but since then I’ve been more involved in writing. She also mentioned that she still belongs to a writer's group, "I belong to a writers group that has been invaluable in giving me feedback, encouragement, and good advice about all my books. It’s a group of five from the North Shore—Beverly, Hamilton, Rockport, Manchester, and me. I’ve been with them since 1997. We meet at Beverly Library.She added that she had begun to write her book, Kwa Heri in the 1980s after she stumbled upon the letters from Kenya that she had written to her mother.

A speaking engagement and book signing of her most recent book, "Willow Run," had been planned for mid March at North Shore Mall. It was cancelled due to the current coronavirus pandemic.

Prior to the quarantine, Stephens spoke about her latest novel at Brooksby village in Peabody, Massachusetts where she resides. The author read a few paragraphs from the pages of her book, "Willow Run" then held a Question and Answer Session with her audience. She was 95 years of age when it was published.

Author Dorothy Stephens prepares to sign copies of "Willow Run" at Brooksby Village, Peabody, Ma.(photo credit, Paula Wall)

Since the release of her first book, the author mentioned that writing other works became a little easier . "I learned a lot each time that helped, although I can’t be specific about what, except I became much more savvy about marketing through a lot of research. The writing itself just started to become easier and more do-able. One huge change came when I began writing on the computer. Kwa Heri was originally done on the typewriter! A cumbersome process to say the least."

When Stephens was asked whether readers of this article can expect to see another book anytime soon, she responded, "Well, if you had asked me a couple of days ago, I would have said no. But an idea is buzzing in my head about maybe another YA (Young Adult) historical novel or creative nonfiction book. We’ll see. Not sure I have enough years left to produce another book. I’m a slow writer."

Adding one more bit of advice to those just stating out in the literary field, Stephens advice to budding novelists, "Take writing classes, join a writers group, subscribe to magazines like Poets & Writers and Writers Digest, and just sit down and write!"