Project Coordinator at The Home Funeral Committee Manual Publishing Group
Greensboro/Winston-Salem, North Carolina Area
- Current
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- Project Coordinator at The Home Funeral Committee Manual Publishing Group
- Director at Funeral Consumers Alliance of the Piedmont
- Freelance writer and community activist (Self-employed)
- Past
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- Editor and Publisher at The Storyteller and the Listener Online (Self-employed)
- Religion Writer/Columnist (Self-employed)
- Freelance Writer and Editor (Self-employed)
- Manager of Publications at Wachovia Bank and Trust
- Education
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- Central Washington University
- St. Andrews Presbyterian College
- Huguenot High School
- Recommended
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13 people have recommended Holly - Connections
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72
connections
- Industry
- Writing and Editing
- Websites
Holly Stevens’s Summary
Each year, I select themes–not resolutions. Themes invite adventure, yet still influence choices I make through the months.
In 2002 I chose gratitude—Gratitude served to buoy me and keep me focused on my blessings as paraplegia set in at the site of a spinal fracture caused by a malignant tumor, one year after my 1992 cancer returned to my bones.
In 2003, transition—I returned to North Carolina to spend the rest of my years with my beloved Bill, with whom I’d fallen in love 21 years earlier, before my first marriage took me ever westward, to Washington State.
In 2004, storytelling—Relegated to bed with a chronic pressure wound, I used my time to promote storytelling as a tool for positive social change through The Storyteller and the Listener Online.
In 2005, listening—I felt the need to tend to listening, the flip side of storytelling, as I remained confined to bed through all of 2005.
In 2006, stillness—My wound healed at last, I emerged ready for a greater engagement with the world. Stillness set healthful boundaries for my renewed activism.
In 2007, benediction—From the literal “good words” of its etymology, to its sense of praise, to its use as an inspired ending, benediction played out as I explored wholesome options at life’s end.
In 2008, gentleness—I laid down The Storyteller and the Listener Online as finding writers began to seem more forced than synergetic. I helped launch a Funeral Consumers Alliance chapter in the Piedmont, which embraced gentle consensus-building as its model of governance. I continued to promote gentle, noninvasive choices in caring for the dead.
This year, handicraft—With an active year behind me as presiding director of Funeral Consumers Alliance of the Piedmont and as project leader for Undertaken With Love, I’m returning to my gourd crafting. I might even learn to knit, at last. Who knows where else this theme will lead me?
Holly Stevens’s Specialties:
Speaker and writer on do-it-yourself funerals and family rights and options at life's end. Advocate of the role of storytelling and story-listening in promoting positive social change.
Holly Stevens’s Experience
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Project Coordinator
The Home Funeral Committee Manual Publishing Group
(Publishing industry)
September 2008 — Present (1 year 3 months)
Initially a Google Group, this network of home funeral advocates from around the United States formed a publishing group to create a simple, affordable manual for congregational committees and other social groups to use in supporting home-centered, family-directed funerals in their communities. They are now recruiting faith communities, hospices and other organizations to begin piloting the manual in a variety of settings.
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Director
Funeral Consumers Alliance of the Piedmont
(Consumer Services industry)
June 2008 — Present (1 year 6 months)
Instrumental in starting this newest chapter of Funeral Consumers Alliance, covering the region of Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High Point and surrounding communities.
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Freelance writer and community activist
Self-employed
(Self-Employed; Publishing industry)
January 2008 — Present (1 year 11 months)
I've decided to stop publishing The Storyteller and the Listener Online to have more time for some other projects -- genealogical research, involvements with my faith community, several writing interests, and community work in the area of simple burials.
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Editor and Publisher
The Storyteller and the Listener Online (Self-employed)
(Self-Employed; Publishing industry)
September 1995 — May 2008 (12 years 9 months)
The Storyteller and the Listener Online, a noncommercial newsletter free to subscribers, began in September 2005 and attracted thousands of readers each month from around the English speaking world. The newsletter focused on the role of story and narrative in peacemaking, healing, bridge building and reconciliation through essays contributed by individuals engaged with narrative both from the telling and the listening ends of the spectrum.
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Religion Writer/Columnist
Self-employed
(Self-Employed; Myself Only; Writing and Editing industry)
January 1992 — January 1997 (5 years 1 month)
I was a stay-at-home mother during these years, but I wrote on the side, both for pay and for free. Among my assignments was lifestyle columnist for the Jamestown Sun and religion writer for the Yakima Herald-Republic. I also wrote various pieces for Quaker Life and other publications associated with the Religious Society of Friends.
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Freelance Writer and Editor
Self-employed
(Self-Employed; Myself Only; Writing and Editing industry)
September 1984 — December 1991 (7 years 4 months)
I was a writer and publications project manager working mostly on a freelance basis in the financial, medical and not-for-profit sectors.
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Manager of Publications
Wachovia Bank and Trust
(Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; Banking industry)
July 1978 — August 1984 (6 years 2 months)
I started as a publications specialist, became a publications editor, and eventually manager of publications (employee and informational publications for specific client segments).
Holly Stevens’s Education
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Central Washington University
Special Education, Elementary Education 1997 — 2002
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St. Andrews Presbyterian College
BA English , English, concentration in journalism , 1974 — 1978
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Huguenot High School
1972 — 1974
Additional Information
Holly Stevens’s Websites:
Holly Stevens’s Interests:
storytelling, story listening, publishing, writing, editing, quakers, liberal christianity, gourd crafting, reading, meditation and experimental prayer practices, advocating for universal health care, civil rights issues of the day (especially equal rights for those with minority sexual orientations), campaign finance reform, exploring death and dying openly and positively
Holly Stevens’s Groups:
New Garden Friends Meeting, National Storytelling Network, North Carolina Storytelling Guild, Storytell Listserv, Funeral Consumers Alliance, Crossings
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Grief & Trauma Experts -
The Forgiveness Project
Holly Stevens’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- expertise requests
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
