Janet Stevenson

Janet M. Stevenson, 96, of Warrenton, died Tuesday, June 9, 2009, at home.

She was born Feb. 4, 1913, in Chicago, to John Carter and Atlantis Octavia (McClendon) Marshall.

She graduated from Bryn Mawr College and received a master's degree in theater arts from Yale University.

In 1939, she married Philip Edward Stevenson in New York City. They divorced in 1964. He preceded her in death in 1965.

In 1965, she married Benson Rotstein. He preceded her in death in a boating accident on the Columbia River bar in 1970.

Mrs. Stevenson moved to Astoria in 1965. She remained in Clatsop County for the next 44 years, living in Walluski, Hammond and Warrenton. She published at least 15 books on history, biography and historical fiction, the most recent being "The Slope." She wrote for many periodicals, and served as cultural arts editor of the Chicago Weekly while she was in Chicago in the 1970s. She taught at the University of Southern California from 1951 to 1953, Grambling College in Louisiana from 1966 to 1967 and Portland State University in 1968. In 1986, she was elected mayor of Hammond, and served two terms.

She was a lifelong campaigner for human rights, social justice and peace and a staunch advocate of equal rights for women. For several years, she served as president of the Oregon Women's Political Caucus, after helping found the North Coast Chapter. She was also a mentor for a number of Oregon women. She received a number of awards and honors for her writing. Her novel "Departure" was selected in 2005 by the Oregon Cultural Arts Commission as one of 100 books that "best define the state and its people."

Family members said she loved tennis, camping, skin diving, sailing, gardening, cooking, mushroom hunting, crossword puzzles, and entertaining her friends and her cat, Jackson.

She is survived by two sons, Joseph Stevenson of Astoria and Edward Stevenson of Bethel, Conn.; two grandsons, Harper and Marshall Stevenson of Bethel; and five nieces, Janet Vaskas of Media, Pa., Margaret Aspinwall of New York City, Natalie McClendon of Bellingham, Wash., Lise Webb of Billings, Mont., and Susan McClendon of Atlanta.

Locate on Walk:

• Naming Wall (Right Wall), 2-15