Grace Stevens

26/1923/02 - 28/2025/10

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the peaceful passing of Grace Stevens on October 28, 2025, at the Veterans Memorial Lodge, Victoria, BC. 
Grace was born in 1923 on a rural farm in Saskatchewan, where she attended a small one-room school. The drought and depression of the 1930s forced her family to relocate to a 20-acre farm in Webster's Corners in Maple Ridge. Together, they worked on the farm and fished the Fraser River to earn a living.  
As a young working woman, Grace took various jobs, including picking hops and working as a cookhouse flunky in Wells, BC.  After training as a stenographer, she enlisted in the Canadian Women's Army Corps (C.W.A.C.) during WW2.  After the war, she was working for the IWA when she met the love of her life, Homer Stevens.  Homer and Grace married on April 30, 1948, after a 3-month courtship and built their home in Ladner, BC, to raise their young family alongside family and friends. 
   
Grace returned to the workforce in the early 1960s, and she continued her career as an office worker and active member of the Office and Technical Employees Union. After working temporary jobs for various unions, she was hired by the Provincial Council of Carpenters until she retired.
Grace became an activist in the women's movement in the 70's and a lifetime advocate in the peace movement. In 1989, with their family grown, she and Homer retired to Lasqueti Island, where they remained until 2002. She then moved to Nanaimo, where she met many new friends and comrades. 
Grace was predeceased by husband, Homer, in 2002; her parents, August and Borghild Hilland; and her six siblings, Alfred Hilland, Ida Helmerson, Carl Hilland, Alma, Alice Lamb, and Harold Hilland. She is survived by her children, Bruce (Edda), John (Susanne), Nick (Lori), and Barb (Mark), seven grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
A Celebration of Grace's life will be held on Saturday, November 22, 2025, at 11:00am, at the Ladner Fishermen's Hall, 4481 Savoy Street. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that donations in Grace's memory can be made to the T. Buck Suzuki Environmental Foundation, Broadmead Care Society, or any non-profit progressive political organization.