Introducing the Grandsons to Alma

Introducing the Grandsons to Alma

by Garry Norman Smith

Alma Gertrude Stevens (nee Alchin)

Alma Gertrude Alchin was born in Gunning, New South Wales, on 15 May 1909; she died on 22 September 1929, four days after giving birth to her son, Noel Stanley Stevens. The official cause of death was “acute yellow atrophy of liver”, also known as malignant jaundice.
Alma Gertrude Stevens was only twenty years old when she died. She was buried at the Church of England Section, Field of Mars Cemetery, Ryde. At the time of her funeral her grave was unmarked and unremarkable for having no coping and no headstone or other marker.

Alma died on 26 September 1929
(“The Daily Telegraph”, Friday 27 September 1929, 7)

Field of Mars Cemetery, Ryde, Church of England Section

Through a chance meeting between the author and Norma Ferguson, Alma’s daughter-in-law, the whereabouts and condition of Alma’s grave was made known to her descendants. I had previously located and photographed the grave as part of my research into my Alchin family.

Through social media and email, contact was made with the grandsons of Alma Gertrude Stevens (nee Alchin) – Grant, Mark and Tony. Grant lives in Berlin, Germany, while Mark and Tony are in Sydney, New South Wales.

The wheels were put into motion to rectify the “grave indifference” to Alma’s grave. Why was Alma’s grave left without a marker of some kind? The most likely reason is one of financial limitations at the time of her death.

Plaque in place at Alma's grave

Alma’s grandsons determined that she should have a simple marker. What transpired is a mounted plaque bearing Alma’s name and her birth and death dates, along with the family details. The message “Taken too soon, you remain in our hearts” has resulted from a renewed awareness of this Gunning girl and her tragic early death.

All credit to the grandsons of a Gunning girl – Grant, Mark and Tony Stevens.

(l-r), Tony Stevens, Grant Steven, Garry Smith and Mark Stevens at the graveside of
Alma Gertrude Stevens (nee Alchin), Field of Mars Cemetery, Ryde, Easter Sunday 2019
(Photo by James Stevens, great-grandson of Alma)