AnnaBell Stevens

Jul 25, 1929 -

Jun 10, 2026

AnnaBell Stevens was born in July 1929, in Gilmer County, W.Va., and passed on June 10, 2026, at Providence Hospital Anchorage.

By the late 1940s, AnnaBell was never afraid of work. She hails from West Virginia hills, where hard work is no stranger. She raised her own daughter while helping her mother to raise her brothers.

AnnaBell returned to and graduated in 1956 from Sand Fork High School in Sand Fork, W.Va. She spent much time on one end of a crosscut saw with her husband putting up firewood used while canning and for the winter heat supply. Many have heard, and guess from whom, that she could "hold her own with a crosscut saw as good as any man." But about 1968 she was up to a new adventure and after just leaving a note on the table, packed 12 foot lockers, took a Greyhound bus cross country without looking back and joined her now adult daughter in Anchorage, Alaska, to start anew. She worked in town for Leroy's Pancake House, Gage's Jewelers and then the Alaska Cleaners for many years.

She retired when federally eligible. But after five years saw a job that she had to have and came out of retirement to take up a 40-hour work week and did not look back. She finally decided it was time to retire at the end of the year she turned 90. Her accomplishments in our community and state include United Way of Anchorage Organized-Labor Liaison, Alaska State AFL-CIO Vice President, Alaska Central Labor Council delegate from Laundry and Drycleaning Local, Laundry and Drycleaning Local 333 director and past officer, Business and Professional Women/Alaska, Chinook Chapter (Anchorage) past president, Toastmasters International Alyeska Club Anchorage, Alaska Correctional Industries Commission Labor Services Representative member, Alaska State Community Service Commission past member, Mayor's Senior Citizen Commission Anchorage, Anchorage Bucs Baseball Club officer and director since 1981, Better Business Bureau of Anchorage director, Bartlett Democratic Club past officer and member, Red Hats Society Anchorage.

She was predeceased by parents, Lee and Edna Belle Hite; adoptive parents, Bud and Beulah Mencer; sisters, Elberta Bills and Martha Lee Radcliff. She is survived by her daughter, Jeannie Elam; brothers, Jimmy (Sharon) Mencer and Wayne (Faye) Mencer; grandchildren, Connie McWhorter and John Elam; plus many great-grandchildren and extended family.

Per her final wishes, there are no visitation or services. Cremation with ashes scattered over Sleeping Lady will be made.