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Lydia Stevens, 95, Former Greenwich Resident

GUILFORD, Conn. - Lydia Beebe Hastings Stevens of Guilford died Feb. 25. She was 95.

Stevens was born Aug. 2, 1918, in Highland Park, Ill., to Rolland Thomas Rankin Hastings and Ruth Shotwell Beebe, she attended Elm Place School then Roycemore School. She graduated from Vassar College in 1939. After marriage she lived with her family in New Haven, and Mineola, N. Y. then moved to Greenwich.

She served as president of the YWCA board and chaired its building committee. She was chairman of the Greenwich Commission on Aging, first president of the Greenwich Housing Coalition, consultant to the Carver Center of the Bethel A.M.E. Church, trustee of the Greenwich Public Library and of the United Way where she served as vice president of planning and chairman of the planning council. She was trustee of the League of Women Voters, Connecticut League of Conservation Voters, Save the Sound and the Fairfield County Fund. She served as consultant to the International Executive Service Corps.

She worked in many capacities as a lay leader at Christ Church, Greenwich and served as its first female senior warden starting in 1981. She worked on projects for the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut and was affiliated with the Alban Institute of Washington, D.C. She served as president of the Greenwich Broadcasting Corporation, parent company of WGCH where she had been president. She was twice elected, as a Republican, to represent the 151st district in the Connecticut General Assembly in 1988 and 1990. She continued to work on local issues in Greenwich after retiring from the legislature. In 2002 she moved full time to Guilford, Conn.

Stevens is survived by her children, Lydia Stevens Gustin, N.Y., N.Y, Priscilla (Michael) Goldfarb, Garrison N.Y.;, Frederick (Ramelle) Stevens, Chapel Hill, N.C., Elizabeth Stevens (Norman MacLeod), Woodstock, Vt.;, George Stevens, Willow Creek, Calif., Ruth Stevens (Thomas M. Stellard), East Grand Rapids, Mich.; 15 grandchildren; and 8 great grandchildren. She was predeceased by her husband, George Cooke Stevens; brother, Rolland Thomas Rankin Hastings, Jr. ; and sister, Jean Hastings Ayres.

A celebration of Stevens' life is planned for May 3 at 11 a.m. in Christ Episcopal Church, Greenwich.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Episcopal Relief and Development, P.O. Box 7058, Merrifield, VA 22116-7058 or http://www.episcopalrelief.org

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