Shirley Stevens French ’47: A Life of Gratitude And Generosity

Shirley French grew up in a large brick house with white marble stairs near Albany’s Washington Park, which she visited with a nanny. Her family had a summer home. 

But, French said, from her earliest days at Albany Academy for Girls she was made aware of those who didn’t enjoy such advantages. Contributing to the community was a way of life, and it has shaped her ever since, as an educator, volunteer and advocate. 

French has continued a family legacy dating to the early 19th century: supporting Albany Academy, both boys and girls. Her grandmother, Anna Van Antwerp Stevens, was a trustee. As a trustee, her father, Winthrop Stevens ’1916, organized the sale of the early building, opening the way to buy the current building. The Stevens family supported the hockey rink, library and the archives. French has endowed a scholarship in her father’s name, and cherishes the connection she has with the recipients.

“Twenty-seven people in my family attended Academy. You were pretty much enrolled the minute you were born,” French, 96, said in a recent interview. “It was the best education you could have experienced and we knew it.” 

But, being generous wasn’t always easy. 

When French was in eighth grade her father reenlisted in the Army Air Corps, sold their home and moved the family to army housing in Montgomery, Alabama. 

Her father, an Army pilot, had been deployed during World War I but the Armistice was declared before he could serve overseas. Now, in 1942, it gnawed at him to see others, including classmates, injured or die while he enjoyed his life. The prospect of England falling to the Germans was real – something French and her two younger siblings couldn’t grasp at the time. 

“I was 13, a Yankee, an army brat, and I couldn’t even understand what people were saying, the accents were so great,” French recalls. “It messed up everything – and was probably the best thing that could have happened to me. It knocked me off my feet.”  

Socializing with governors and mayors became a thing of the past. French made friends with fellow Army brats whose families were frequently transferred. Her father’s salary cut in half, the family lived in a small rental. In place of Washington Park they were surrounded by dirt roads and cotton fields. French attended a tiny school, and also used her Academy books to help keep up. 

In time, she embraced her family’s mission by knitting socks, supplying bandages to the hospital treating the wounded, writing letters and sending supplies to troops. 

French had no way of knowing when or if they’d return to Albany. After nearly three years they did so when the war ended. She started her junior year at Girls Academy, then on Washington Avenue.  

With the support of her teachers, French caught up and even made cum laude. Despite missing two years of high school, she was determined to earn three-season varsity letters reflecting all four years. So she took part in field hockey, basketball, and softball.

After graduating, she earned an education degree at Wheelock College in Boston. She taught pre-school, assisting in classrooms where children came from impoverished homes. She and her late husband, Bob, raised their four children in Andover, MA, then retired in Virginia.  

French now lives in a retirement home in Massachusetts, where she serves on the environmental committee and assists friends who are in memory care. She reads to preschoolers in a local school, was a longtime volunteer at the Museum of Fine Arts and played tennis until she was 90. 

French said it has been especially important to spend time with younger neighbors, her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. As always, she supports her school, through scholarships and archival projects. 

“My philosophy, and what has kept me going, is to keep a strong intellectual curiosity,” she said. “And Academy certainly gave me that.”