Rebecca Gustaviana Stevens was bcrn cn the 26th October, 1908 in Mange Bureh, Bureh Kasse Makonte Chicfdom. She attended the Harford- School for Girls in Moyamba where she taught after graduation to later become Matron.

Her father Francis Aiphonso Deveneaux, the first Sierra Leonean District Commissioner was very pleased with his daughter’s wedding to Siaka Probyn Stevens, the eldest son of the Limba Tribal Headman in Moyamba and a Christian.

After marriage she left her teaching career to be with her husband in Lunsar where he worked for the then Delco. After the birth of their first child and on the death of her father-in-Law in 1941 she moved to Moyamba where she was visited monthly by her husband who because of his job as a Mineworkers’ Union Secretary had to visit Yengema and Hangha regularly.

During her stay she had five more children for her husband before she moved on to Freetown in 1951 on the appointment of her husband as the first indigenous Minister of Lands, Mines and Labour and it was in Freetown that she had her last child.

She lost her father in 1955 and in 1957 her husband began his long stay in political wilderness. With her comforting words and stead fastness, her husband withstood the storm. Then in 1968 her loyalty and dedica tion paid dividends when her husband was sworn-in as Prime Minister .

With her christian upbringing she never stopped praying to the Lord for the protection of her husband and children. With her children they witnessed the swearing-in of her husband as the first Executive President of the Republic of Sierra Leone in 1971. With her children they buried her husband on Sunday, the 12th June, 1988 and at 15.50 hours on Tuesday, 9th October 1990 she passed away.

May her Soul rest in perfect peace.