Carol Joyce Stephens

CAROL JOYCE STEPHENS Carol Joyce Stephens (nee Sanders). Beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, cousin, and all-around firecracker, passed away on January 22, 2025, at the age of 86. Born in Detroit on October 20, 1938, to George and Arletta Sanders (née Vogan), Carol was a beautiful ball of energy. She adored her husband, Ronnie, and made magic for him and her two daughters on a daily basis. She was a lover of babies and animals, an excellent cook, Christmas cookie and birthday cake baker, knitter, seamstress, and Halloween costume maker, and a surprisingly good bowler, golfer, and waterskier. She proudly worked in the Business School and Dean's Office at the University of Michigan at the start of her long and successful career and was a lifelong Wolverine football fan. She was also a life-long member and leader in the Epsilon Sigma Alpha sorority, dedicated to its mission to support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. She was feisty, funny, a voracious reader, kind and smart, and did everything thoroughly and well, giving generously of her time and talents to her family and many friends. Her 1956 senior yearbook photo was captioned "mischief and fun are her twin companions", and it was true her whole life long. Carol is survived by her steadfast and true husband, Ronald Neil Stephens, her daughters Alison Joy Stephens Sykes (Mark Sykes) and Sandra Carol Stephens Galvin (Jim Galvin), her grandchildren Thomas and Eric Leach and Scarlett and Tess Galvin, and her sister Lorraine Hutchins. A Memorial Service was held on  Wednesday, January 29, 2025, at the Union Lake Chapel of the Elton Black and Son Funeral Home, 1233 Union Lake Rd., White Lake, Michigan 48386. Please visit  www.eltonblackandsonwhitelake.com to share a memory with the family. Carol loved flowers, but she would also be honored by donations made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital through the Epsilon Sigma Alpha portal. https://esa.users.membersuite.com/auth/portal-login