Meg Stevens


About me

I was born in Bryn Mawr Pennsylvania, the daughter of Philip Exton and Eleanor Scott Guckes. I graduated from Shipley School and attended Swarthmore College. We lived in Wayne, Pennsylvania, spending summers in Camden on the coast of Maine. I had learned to sail as a child; having had my own boat from the time I was nine. My father owned an Alden Schooner, Malabar 2, which he cruised all over New England and as far south as Chesapeake Bay. At one time he sailed across the ocean to Spain and return. The boat was used in the movie Message in a Bottle.

My first husband, Evans Malott Harrell took me to Indianapolis where I had my four children. To keep myself busy I belonged to the Junior League of Indianapolis and under their auspices was instrumental in setting up a vision-screening test in the Indianapolis Public Schools. We moved to Cincinnati OH where we lived in Indian Hill. My first husband and I campaigned a racing sailboat in the Thistle Class Association regattas. We also enjoyed square dancing and round dancing. Under the auspices of the Cincinnati Junior League and with the Cincinnati Public Schools I wrote Social Studies programs for WCET the oldest public television in the United States.

We moved to Atlanta, GA where we joined the Lake Lanier Sailing Club. We built a weekend home at the club and spent many happy hours there. I was a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary. We were charged with the search and rescue operations at the lake as well as educating boaters about safety.

Sometime after my divorce I decided to indulge my interest in archaelogy and went on three digs. The first was in Kampsville, IL at a field school run by Northwestern University. I next worked on a mitigation dig with the University of Georgia being held in conjunction with the building of Oconee Reservoir. Our job was to study as much of the Oconee Indian culture before it was covered up by the rising waters. The following summer I went to Israel for a biblical archaeological seminar under the auspices of Hebrew University. Concluding that archaeology was fascinating but not particularly lucrative, I decided I needed a paying job. I went to work for The Travel Mart as a travel counselor. We specialized in foreign independent travel sending people all over the world.

When I met my second husband, John Stanley Stevens, I was on the Delta Queen steamboat going down the Mississippi River. He moved to Atlanta from Washington, DC to be with me. We had a delightful if all too short marriage before he contacted Alzheimer's. We enjoyed traveling and theater. He was also a sports fan so some of our "theater"" took us to sports events all over the country. My own hobby was history and genealogy. I belonged to the Colonial Dames D.A.R. My research into my own origins and into my husband's ancestors took me to visit family, graveyards and genealogical libraries from Indiana to New England. I continued my volunteer work doing an index for the Atlanta Historical Society. I have volunteered by indexing books for the D.A.R. and by creating more than 25,000 memorials on findagrave.com. It is something I can do at home and at my own pace. Starting at the age of eight, when my grandmother, Edith Wilder Scott took me to Bermuda, I have had a life long love of travel which has taken me all over the world. Some of my travel journals are attached to this page.

I learned to play bridge as a child and today enjoy playing duplicate bridge. I have attended many tournaments and play at three different clubs in the Atlanta area which are also linked to this page. I also do yoga with Dennis Kast.

I am lucky in having four children, eight grandchildren and three great grandchildren (with a fourth expected any day) as well as a loving step family.