Doris Jean Stephenson

Doris Jean Stephenson, 79, a resident of Rutledge, Alabama, passed away peacefully at Baptist Medical Center South in Montgomery on Tuesday, October 8th, 2024. Funeral services for Doris Jean will be held at 2 PM on Thursday, October 10th, from the Chapel of Turners Funeral Home with Rev. Jerry Hogwood and Rev. Walter Brewer officiating. Interment will follow in Rutledge Cemetery with Turners Funeral Home of Luverne directing. The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Thursday for one hour prior to the service.
Doris Jean was an excellent seamstress who not only spent many years working in the textile industry but also from her home where she often took custom jobs as well as alterations. She also used her own skills for herself and her family as she could take anything already made and customize it to fit better or make something wholly new, as well making many of her family's clothing in their younger days. Unsurprisingly, Doris Jean's creative talents also extended to various arts and crafts over the years, as well as painting. She kept a plentiful and bountiful garden of both vegetables and beautiful flowers throughout her life. Those vegetables often graced both her table and those of her loved ones whether freshly picked or lovingly preserved through canning. Her skills in the kitchen when it came to old-fashioned Southern cooking were truly unmatched. There was nothing she couldn't make or bake when she wanted to, though her family's favorites will always be her dressing and chicken & dumplings....which any Southern cook will tell you is one of the hardest dishes to get right if you are hand-rolling them yourself like Doris Jean did for many years!

You really could not find a kinder or more God-fearing soul than Doris. She was exceptionally generous with both her time and her love and truly knew the value of living a selfless life. Her faith was her strength all through her life as she was a dedicated member of the Southern Baptist Church her entire life. She loved like her Lord told her to love and so many benefited & thrived under that love. She absolutely believed that her family was her greatest treasure on this earth and treated them as such. She adored her children, but those grandchildren and great-grands were absolutely her heart. There was nothing she loved more than spending time with them and was always up for a trip to go visit them, just say when! Above all, she was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother who meant the world to all those who knew and loved her so dearly.

Doris Jean was preceded in death by her husband, Marvin Stephenson; parents, Crawford & Sallie Bell Smith Mitchell; and brother, James Mitchell. She is survived by her loving husband, Vaughn Stephenson; children, Michael (Pamela) Stephenson, Carol (George) Jeffcoat, and Randy (Kim) Stephenson; grandchildren, David (Alisha) Stephenson, Nathan (Sky) Stephenson, Heather (Joshua) Frith, Joshua (Ashley) Jeffcoat, Candi Pfenning, and Justin (Dena) Pfenning; great-grandchildren, Easton & Ryker Stephenson, Jason, Blake, and Lane Frith (with Ajay soon to make his appearance), Andrew, Dylan, and Brooklyn Pfenning; and a host of nieces, nephews, extended family members, and friends.

Active pallbearers will be David Stephenson, Nathan Stephenson, Danny Taylor, and Stevie Taylor.