Stepping into Motherhood
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Liz Rymarev
Team Cobb
Stephanie Yount accepted that she would never be a mother. When she was 32 years old, she learned it was because of her egg quality. Yount endured two miscarriages during her first marriage and one in her second marriage. As an only child growing up in Kansas City, Mo., she was close to her parents and especially close to her mother. The miscarriages devastated her.
She is now 48 and four years into her second marriage to Maryville native Kent Yount. They met at work and she moved to the small town of about 10,000 to be with him. Waiting for her in this small corner of Missouri were two stepsons, Kasen and Kallen who were 3 and 5 at the time.
She did not know what to expect.
Today, she is the owner of a downtown staple, Haven Coffee and Goods. Kasen is now 14 and Kallen is 16 and Stephanie and her two stepsons have grown inseparable. She knows who their friends are, which girls they are taking to the homecoming dance, how many 3-pointers Kallen missed in his workout and how many feet Kasen hit the golf ball down the fairway that day.
For a woman who never had the chance to conceive her own children, Yount now has two. “You define motherhood, and it doesn’t have to be having your own,” she said.
Stephanie Yount and her husband, Kent Yount, left, walk to a hole where her two stepsons, Kasen, second from right, and Kallen Yount, are setting up a tee at the Maryville Country Club in Maryville, Mo. “The best part [of motherhood] is having to grow everyday, be better for them everyday, be a better version of myself everyday,” Stephanie said.
Kallen pulls his hands deeper into his pockets as his stepmom, Stephanie, pokes at him as they arrive at Kohl’s to shop for his homecoming dance in Saint Joseph, Mo. Kallen and his brother Kasen switch living with both sets of their parents every other week. “They’ve taught me so much about myself and pushed the boundaries of me because we are so different,” Stephanie said.
Bre Lurz, from right, Lucy Donnelly and Quincey Lyon watch as Stephanie Yount teaches them how to properly pull a double espresso shot at Haven Coffee and Goods, the cafe that she owns.
On their fourth wedding anniversary, Kent Yount kisses his wife Stephanie Yount goodbye after breakfast as she prepares to-go boxes for a catering order at her coffee shop. The two met while working together in her hometown of Kansas City, Mo., and Stephanie moved to Maryville for him and his sons. “My relationship with Stephanie helps me turn my weaknesses into strengths,” Kent said.
A school photo of Kasen, bottom right, hangs on the family’s fridge alongside a photo series of his brother and his friends.
Kallen wrestles with Kasen in the backseat with their dad as they listen to music in the car on the way to Saint Joseph, Mo., to shop for their upcoming homecoming dance. “It’s like having a built-in buddy,” Kallen said.
Stephanie lays out outfit options for her stepson Kasen for his homecoming dance outfit at Kohl’s in Saint Joseph, Mo. “I think that it just took me a little bit to find my place in their life and be comfortable with, like, this is what I’m supposed to be doing,” Stephanie said.
Kent smiles at his sons, Kallen, center, and Kasen as they pose for a photo while trying on their homecoming dance outfits at Kohl’s in Saint Joseph, Mo. “I think a lot of their personal growth as human beings has been because of [Stephanie],” Kent said.
Kasen peeks out from behind the curtain in the dressing room at Haven Coffee and Goods as his stepmom, Stephanie, steams his shirt before he heads off to school. “You get it ingrained in you that you’re supposed to be a mom, and then there’s all this biology in there that you don’t really know until it’s happening,” Stephanie said.
Stephanie opens the door to her coffee shop, Haven Coffee and Goods, at the beginning of her day. Stephanie started her business as a clothing store two years ago and added a cafe in November 2025.
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