Stevens Family - 1513 11th Avenue

My grandparents, father and aunt, lived in the Cranford neighborhood. I wanted to share a little history about them and their time in the house in the 1940s and 1950s. I gathered this history through my genealogical research and stories that my dad told me.

The Stevens family lived in the home at 1513 11th Avenue from 1942 until the mid to late 1950s.

Theodore (Ted) Stevens (1899-1969) and Marie Sundby (1902-1964) met at the University of Wisconsin in the 1920s when they were students. The couple were both raised in Norwegian immigrant farming families in Wisconsin. They married in 1927. Before her marriage, Marie worked as a home economics teacher. Theodore started his career with the Great Western Sugar Company as a fieldman and chemist, working until his retirement in 1964. That job sent the Stevens’ to many areas with sugar beet operations, including Council Bluffs, Iowa; Sterling, Colorado and Lovell, Wyoming. While in Lovell, the couple had two children, a daughter, Jeane (1932), and a son, Thomas (Tom) (1935-2011).

In 1942, the Great Western Sugar Company transferred Ted to a new city, Greeley, Colorado. The family purchased the large house at 1513 11th Avenue. The house had more than enough room for a family of four. The family had winter and summer bedrooms as one side of the house was warm in the winter, and the other was cool in the summer. They kept their summer clothes in the summer bedroom and the winter clothes in the winter bedroom.

The Greeley Hospital on the corner of 11th and 16th was located across the street. The neighborhood kids, including Tom and Jeane, would sometimes peek in the hospital windows hoping to see a live surgery.

While they lived in the house, the Stevens family was active in the Greeley community. They were all members of the Trinity Episcopal Church. They enjoyed visiting the mountains and pursuing outdoor activities such as golfing, fishing and skiing.

Theodore was part of the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra (GPO), where he played the viola. He served as GPO Board of Directors President in 1945 and continued as a board member until 1950. Ted was also a member of the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity, Greeley Elks Lodge, and Occidental Lodge, as well as a master of the Masonic Lodge.

Most of Marie’s work involved caring for the house and children. From time to time, she worked at the sugar factory weighing beets and at Greeley High teaching home economics. Marie was a member of the Delta Zeta sorority and was active in alumni work. She was also a member of the American University Women Association.

The kids attended Cameron Elementary, Greeley Junior High School and Greeley High School (Greeley Central).

Jeane was popular in high school, was involved in many activities, and graduated in 1950. She was a homecoming queen, cheerleader, majorette, and prom queen candidate. Other of her high school activities included student council, pep club, drama, orchestra and more.

Tom was more laid back but excelled at sports, including tennis and basketball. He was also a freshman on the high school football team and sang in the choir and glee club. Tom was the paperboy in the Cranford neighborhood during his teen years, delivering the Greeley Tribune. He began collecting comic books at this time and continued this hobby for the rest of his life.

By 1955, both children had graduated from high school. Jeane attended the University of Colorado in Boulder. Tom went to Kemper Military School in Boonville, Missouri, for junior college and joined the Army in 1958. After the Stevens parents became empty nesters, they moved to a smaller home in the Glenmere area, 1804 15th Avenue.

I hope you enjoyed this little history. Let me know if you have any questions.

Natalie Stevens