Ellen Susan Stephens

Ellen Susan Stephens, 62, died on Saturday, January 21, 2012, at her home in Austin. Ellen was born in Brooklyn, New York, grew up in New Jersey, and moved to Austin in 1981 with her husband, John Stephens, to attend the University of Texas.

Ellen was involved with education in one way or another throughout her life. She graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in Spanish in 1971. She later attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where she graduated with an M.A. in linguistics in 1980. While at the University of Michigan, she taught English as a Second Language at the English Language Institute and co-authored Reader's Choice, a highly-acclaimed textbook for students of English that is still in use worldwide. She graduated in 1983 from the University of Texas with an M.B.A.

After graduating from the University of Texas, Ellen was an Assistant Dean at St. Edward's University and later taught business communications there for many years as an adjunct instructor. Until her recent retirement due to illness, she was the head of the Human Resources Department at the Austin American-Statesman. She will be greatly missed by her colleagues and her students, who remember her as a wonderful teacher and a person with a keen wit and a great sense of humor.

Ellen is survived by her two children, her sister, her parents, and her aunt. Her children were the pride and joy of her life: her son David is the Middle School Head Counselor at the Jewish Community Center of Austin and her daughter, Carolyn, is a freshman at St. Edward's University and wants to follow in her mothers footsteps. Her sister, Joanne Bober, lives in Dallas, her mother and father, Martha and Monroe Bober, live in Austin and her aunt, Betty Fried, lives in New York.

Our family would like to give special thanks to the staff of the Home Option for their diligent and thoughtful attention to Ellen's needs.

The funeral will be held at Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home on North Lamar at 12:00 noon on Tuesday, January 24. Interment will follow in the Beth Shalom section at Austin Memorial Park. The family request that donations be made to Temple Beth Shalom or to the charity of choice in lieu of sending flowers.