Stephanie Elliott Gaines Blevins

Stephanie Elliott Gaines Blevins of Crestone, Colorado, passed away peacefully on May 4, 2026 in Fitchburg, Wisconsin. Through her 83 years she touched many lives with her generosity, kindness, and compassion.

Stephanie was born in Alhambra, California on April 2, 1943, the eldest daughter of the late Barbara and Frank Gaines. An educator, she attended the San Francisco Art Institute, Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and Emerson College in Forest Row, England, culminating in a focus on Waldorf education and the work of Rudolf Steiner. She was instrumental in founding the Aspen Community School in Woody Creek, Colorado and spent over fifteen years as a beloved teacher at the Milwaukee Urban Waldorf School and at the Crestone Charter School.

She was known for her deep spiritual practice, studying the Fourth Way at Claymont in West Virginia, Sufism with Sidi Sheik, and finding deep meaning in her Tibetan Buddhist practice that began with Lama Chonam and Sangye Khandro and continued under Khenchen Namdrol Rinpoche.

She dedicated her life to service, whether that was to her students, her family, or her community. She founded and served as the director of two community-based non-profit groups: the Crestone End of Life Project (CEOLP), promoting informed end-of-life choices and supporting fulfillment for community members with an open air cremation pyre, and Informed Final Choices (IFC), a service organization standing at the center of end-of-life issues. Stephanie was, as David Byrne would say “head in the clouds, feet on the ground”, she loved solving problems and dreaming big in her solutions. Her life brimmed with adventure starting with living in Guadalajara as a teenager, the Hague as a scholar, and frequent travel to Nepal and several pilgrimages on the Camino de Santiago as a grandmother. Along the way she gained and shared many talents as a fine artist, gourmet chef, and children’s theater director.

Her final months were full of gratitude for her many teachers, the presence of the dharma in her life, her community of practitioners, and her family. She was deeply touched to know the work of CEOLP and IFC continues, and that the work of helping all die on their own terms with dignity is being carried by those that share her dedication.

Stephanie is survived by her sons Matthew Blevins (Christina Smith) of Abu Dhabi, UAE and Aris Blevins (Ashley Russell) of Madison, Wisconsin; her beloved grandsons: Isaiah, AJ and Griffin; and her brother McGregor Gaines (Megumi Sugihara) of Olympia, Washington. In addition to her parents, Stephanie was predeceased by her sister, Christine Gaines.

Her family members and dear friends will remember her with joy. Her ashes will be scattered in the mountains and the sea.