Always putting other people before herself, Ashley Stevenson dedicated her life to helping others.
“She decided to be a sociology major so that she could serve others,” said Dwenette Stevenson, her mother. “She was really concerned about the betterment of people and what she could do for people.”
Scott Stevenson, her father, said his daughter was mature for her age.
“She just wasn’t your typical 20-year-old that just goes to school,” Scott Stevenson said. “She had it all figured out. It was just a matter of waiting for the time for it to all come into place. She pursued her life aggressively and focused on a clear direction of where she wanted to go.”
Ashley Stevenson did public service work for breast cancer awareness, volunteering and interning in Lubbock at Susan G. Komen, a breast cancer advocacy group.
Dwenette Stevenson said it’s difficult for people to understand her character unless you knew her — a complexity that the Aggie family is familiar with.
“From the outside looking in, people just thought, ‘Oh, well that’s neat that she’s doing that,’ but it was constant,” Dwenette Stevenson said. “As her parents, we just saw all the good stuff that she constantly did for other people.”
Ashley Stevenson was the public relations officer for Southern Darlings, a women’s service organization. She was nominated just last spring, but Dwenette Stevenson said her daughter was already enamored with the organization, its goal and its officers.
“Even in that short time, she’d always felt connected to that group of girls and so the Aggie Southern Darlings were really excited to be on the ground front of a group that dedicated themselves to honesty and integrity and just supporting the community — that was really important to her,” Dwenette Stevenson said.
Leslie Martin, co-founder of Southern Darlings and Ashley Stevenson’s friend, said she witnessed her ability to light up a room.
“We posted about having elections for open officer positions and she ended up sending an application and we picked her for an interview, and instantly, the minute she walked up the stairs, all of us were unanimous and thought, ‘This was the girl, she’s in already,’” Martin said. “That’s just the kind of spirit that she had — you could talk to her for five seconds and you felt like you’ve known her for five years.”
Scott and Dwenette Stevenson were initially University of Texas fans, but Scott Stevenson said his daughter was consumed by Texas A&M and its culture since the day she went to campus for the first time.
“After that visit, it was all Aggies,” Scott Stevenson said. “She changed us. When we took her down for a student visit, we were just blown away by everybody’s generosity and how much they cared and the traditions and so forth. That’s the one thing I can say — she loved being an Aggie, probably more than anything I think she’s ever loved in her life.”
Ashley Stevenson wanted to start a career that would enable her to help others for the rest of her life.
“This summer, she worked for Susan G. Komen — she had just started an internship there, and her hope and dream was to graduate Texas A&M this year and move on to directorship at Susan G. Komen somewhere because she wanted to dedicate her life to giving back to people,” Dwenette Stevenson said.
Martin said Ashley Stevenson impacted everyone who knew her and will always be missed.
“You honestly don’t meet people like her every day,” Martin said. “That needs to be known.”
Picture provided.