Obituary of Anna Lou Stephens

Anna passed away peacefully with her daughter and son-in-law by her side on August 4, 2019. She was born in Arizona, but grew up in Grand Junction, Colorado and graduated from Grand Junction High School in 1960. She married Robert Elliott Stephens in 1963 and had a daughter and a son. She and Robert divorced in 1993. She was briefly married to James Brandmeir.Most of her early working life was in banking and real estate in some capacity or another, and her hobby was jewelry making. She once traveled to Hong Kong in search of fine gemstones. Her nickname was "Anna Banana" and while working at the bank, one year for Halloween, she crafted a giant banana costume from chicken wire and yellow felt.It was later in life that she discovered her true passion�painting. She picked up a paint brush at 40 and quickly moved from taking classes to teaching classes. She was an amazing artist that excelled in many mediums�acrylics, oils, chalk, and watercolor. She had a storefront in California called Aristocrafts where she taught fabric and tole painting classes. Once the store closed, she started to demonstrate sewing machines and teach basic sewing classes with a partner and they traveled to fabric stores all over the country.She moved back to Grand Junction, Colorado in the late 1990s, to be closer to her daughter, and went back to college, earning a degree in Fine Arts from Mesa State College in 2002. While in school, she also learned to make pottery.The job market was tough in Grand Junction after graduation and she took a job in Nashville, Tennessee promoting Mystery Dinner Theatre events. She always said working with the writers and the actors was her favorite part. She retired in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 2006. She continued to paint and joined the Pikes Peak Tole Society.She had a love for flowers and gardens and day dreamed about having her own little farm one day with chickens and goats and every size and breed of dog imaginable and a vegetable garden to die for.She wrote poetry in her retirement and published a poetry collection called "Standing Outside the Fire with Friends" with some fellow poets.She was funny, feisty and foul-mouthed. Friends remember her as being rough around the edges but having a heart of gold. She was preceded in death by her son, Robert "Robbie" E. Stephens, who died at a young age; mother, Hazel Odene Serfoss; father, Adrian Clarence Eichman; and brother, David A. Flanders.She is survived by her daughter, Kristina (John) Stephens-Oakes; brother, John (Dee) Eichman; aunt, Jean (Gerald) Holden; and uncle, Dwight Serfoss.She will be greatly missed. Contributions in Anna's memory may be made to the Dementia Society of America, https://www.dementiasociety.org/donate