Stephen Reid Ledford

Ledford

Stephen Reid Ledford

Stephen Reid Ledford, age 69, of Annandale, VA and Gainesville, FL died unexpectedly on February 21, 2023 at VA Hospital Center after contracting a bacterial infection which developed into septic shock. Present with Stephen were Reverend Kris Alexander, Celebration Center for Spiritual Living, Carol Lutz, his partner and wife, and family and friends from the U.S. and other countries who joined virtually to offer their loving support. He will be missed by many.



Born May 8th, 1953 in Washington, DC, Stephen was the elder son of the late Davis Reid Ledford, Jr. and Bernice Stephens Ledford who both originally hailed from Mount Sterling, KY. Stephen grew up in Falls Church, VA and was a proud and passionate alumnus of the University of VA from which he graduated in 1975 with a degree in economics.



Stephen began an accomplished 34 year career working for the U.S. Government soon after graduating from UVA. He served at Agriculture, HUD, the United States Information Agency, and the Department of State (DOS) and received the Secretary's Career Achievement Award from then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for his achievements as a manager, negotiator and mentor. When General Colin Powell served as Secretary he wrote Stephen a letter praising him for preparing a "masterpiece" document in support of funding of DOS positions. Also in his letter to Stephen, General Powell quoted then DOS Director General Marc Grossman who had complimented Stephen's vision and effort to the Secretary and had written in a separate letter to Stephen "We are prouder because of you. You are great!"



Upon retiring from the government in 2009, Stephen was appointed under former President Barack Obama as a member of the Foreign Service Labor Relations Board which hears and decides disputes between the foreign affairs agencies and the American Foreign Service Association and served three terms until 2018. Stephen also became active in the National Active Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE) and served between 2010 and 2018 in various positions at the local chapter and state federation level including Annandale Chapter 1159 Legislation Chair, alternate Congressional District Leader for Congressman Gerry Connolly; Senatorial Leader for Senators Jim Webb, Mark Warner, and Tim Kaine; and VA Federation Narfe National Legislation Chair.



Stephen lived a happy and successful life in service to others. Stephen served in formal ways and person to person, for example, volunteering as an arbitrator with the D.C. Bar Attorney Client Arbitration Board; serving as a member, and for three years as President, of his townhome community's Home Owners' Association Board; working outside the polls on election days for the Fairfax County Democrats; assisting immigrant neighbors in navigating the process to become U.S. citizens and with registering to vote; supporting Narfe Annandale Chapter 1159's annual Alzheimer fundraiser, Annandale Christian Community for Action (ACCA) food drive, and adopt-a-road litter pick-ups; and helping with animal rescues. In recognition of Stephen's service to Narfe, his community, and others, Stephen was awarded the 2018 Blue Cross Blue Shield Distinguished Annuitant Award.



Pre-Covid, Stephen enjoyed being active, social, and traveling the U.S. and the world seeing North America, South America, Europe, and Africa. He was away in West Palm Beach, FL at the Washington Nationals spring training in 2020 when the nationwide Covid shutdown went into effect. Stephen had a life long love of learning and was always open to new experiences. He was looking forward to travel again in the future but has embarked instead on a spiritual journey.



Stephen was a friend of many and, most importantly, of Bill W's. Stephen was a member of AA and the fellowship he had made in VA and FL helped him advance his recovery and to live and die abstinent from alcohol. His recovery journey wasn't easy, there were relapses, but he never gave up. And as he became more rooted in his recovery, Stephen extended help to others and did service work for his groups. He especially enjoyed presenting chips to members and helping mark members' sobriety milestones. Sometimes he borrowed from the song "Seasons of Love" from Rent and multiplied a member's sobriety time by 525,600 minutes in a year to dramatically highlight that member's achievement. Stephen himself daily carried in his pants pocket a 24 hour chip he had received at Father Martin Ashley's seven years ago as a reminder to take his sobriety and life one day at a time. So many members from Stephen's groups have shared how he warmly gave them emotional support and encouragement and served as a resource as they worked the AA program for themselves. Some credited Stephen with literally saving their lives though he would have said that they saved themselves.



Stephen loved life. He was well known for his sense of humor and willingness to embrace silliness. It got him through the toughest of times. Even when facing death, he was positive, optimistic, and hopeful. Stephen will be remembered as a storyteller, a teacher and mentor, someone who knew a lot about a lot but wasn't a know-it-all. Stephen was kind, thoughtful, caring, a truly good man, just like the man described in Grady Poulard's poem, "The Measure of a Man." Stephen was content with his life and what he had.



Stephen's complete obituary can be read at adventfuneral.com.



Please join Reverend Kris, Carol, family members sister-in-law, Susan Ray (Gibsonia, PA;) niece, Dr. Heather Ray, nephew-in-law, Dr. Ivan Furic, and great niece, Sofija Ray Furic (Gainesville, FL) and friends in-person for a celebration of Stephen's life at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 20, 2023 at the Celebration Center for Spiritual Living, Suite 220, 2840 Graham Road, Falls Church, VA 22042 or by Zoom or live stream. For those attending in-person, a luncheon reception will be held immediately afterwards at the Italian Cafe at 7161 Lee Highway, Falls Church, VA 22046. If attending in-person, please be current with flu and Covid vaccines and boosters. Click this link to connect to the live stream on May 20, or to view afterwards and the link to join by Zoom on the date of the service is available at celebrationcenter.org. Details of when a graveside service will be held at Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery in Gainesville, FL will be announced later.



Those wishing to make memorial contributions in Stephen's honor may do so at North Central FL Intergroup, (ATTN: Kanapaha Wednesday 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Meeting & Haile Freedom, Monday 7 to 8 p.m. Meeting,) 2632 NW 43rd Street, Gainesville, FL 32606; Independence Club. (ATTN: Early Birds 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. Meeting,) 7043 Wimsatt Rd, Springfield VA 22151; Celebration Center for Spiritual Living, 2840 Graham Road, Suite 220, Falls Church, VA 22042; Narfe-PAC, P.O. Box 98169, Washington, DC 20090-8169; or the National Network of Abortion Funds, 9450 SW Gemini Dr., PMB 16009, Beaverton, OR 97008-7105.