Ruth Leone Stephens

Ruth Leone Milius Stephens, 85, passed away Saturday, April 6, 2013, in Bountiful, Utah, surrounded by her children and husband.

She was born September 23, 1927, in Salt Lake City, Utah, the only child of Ernest Philip Milius and Anna Elizabeth Christenson. When she was a teenager, her family moved to Kensington Avenue, where she met her sweetheart, Keith Cromar Stephens, who lived across the street. (Her mother sent a chocolate cake to him when he was off in the Navy. When he returned on leave, he crossed the street to thank her, met the more grown-up Ruth, and the rest took its natural course.)

Ruth had already graduated from the University of Utah in elementary education when she married Keith on June 18, 1948, in the Salt Lake Temple. She valued education highly, and encouraged him to complete his degree in engineering.

They eventually became the devoted parents of six children, who were all raised in Lakewood, Colorado, just west of Denver.

Ruth had taught second grade for several years in Utah, but her real service was teaching piano. She served faithfully as a Relief Society leader, as a ward organist for thirty years, and as an organist in the Denver Colorado Temple. She loved live music, from jazz to classical, and, after returning to Utah in the early 1990s, enjoyed annual attendance at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, the Utah Opera and Utah Festival Opera, and the Utah Symphony. She also enjoyed traveling throughout the world, as well as frequent family gatherings at Lake Powell.

She is survived by her husband, who cared for her devotedly during her lengthy illness, as well as by Craig (Anita, of Mesa, AZ), Deborah (Daniel Peterson, of Orem), Dean (Mary, of Sandy), Vance (Shauna, of Hockinson, Washington), Kent (Bonnie, of Centerville), Deanna Christensen (of Sandy); twenty-one grandchildren; and nine great grandchildren.

Family and friends are invited to a viewing on Thursday, April 11, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at Russon Brothers Mortuary, 295 N. Main St., Bountiful. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 AM on Friday, April 12, 2013, in the Moss Hill LDS Ward, 455 South 1200 East, in Bountiful, and there will also be a viewing at the chapel during the hour before the funeral. Interment will be at the Salt Lake City Cemetery.