Jane Stephenson: b. 1938, d. 2026

Jane Ellen Baucom Stephenson (b. 1938, d. 2026) was born in Banner Elk, NC. As a young person, she sang from the Christian Harmony with her cousins there and at Etowah (NC). Although Jane moved permanently to central Kentucky in the mid-1960s, she was proud of and celebrated her mountain heritage, returning to Banner Elk for months at a time throughout her years.

Jane introduced her husband John to shape-note singing. John came to love shape-note music, too, and had the advantage of being able to offer mailing and administrative assistance because of his positions at the University of Kentucky and Berea College. Jane also spent decades teaching piano and playing the organ for Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church in Lexington, KY.

Jane was really the primary influence when it came to "inciting" four-note singing in Kentucky at the turn of the 1980s. The Stephensons started to hold small singings at their house and at their home church on Armstrong Mill Road, both in Lexington. We met in the undercroft area of the church where the Sunday school rooms were located.

The association with Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church broke after the Stephensons moved on to Berea. By 1983, they had started to host an annual singing in Berea. This all-day singing is the ancestor of the Kentucky State Singing now held at Versailles. By 2005, it was being described as a Sacred Harp singing "with Southern Harmony tunes welcomed." Jane played the hostess in the early years of the all-day singing, making visitors welcome and being certain to provide fried chicken for dinner. She felt like she was a singer but not a leader and would direct songs only when she felt she was obligated to. WONDROUS LOVE was a favorite.

Material substantially from Ron Pen

Special mentions at singings