Sophia Hencken Stone, of Barnard, Vermont, died on November 11, 2024. The cause was metastatic cancer.

Sophia was born on November 21st, 1940 in Boston, Massachusetts, to Thalassa Cruso Hencken and Hugh O'Neill Hencken of Chestnut Hill and Marion, Massachusetts. She graduated from Radcliffe College in 1962 and two years later married David L. Stone, Harvard Class of 1961. The two moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, where they lived for 42 years while David practiced law and they raised three children.

Sophia received a Master of Education degree from Tulane University, and taught in the Head Start program in New Orleans during its earliest years. After her children were born, she co-founded a successful co-operative preschool, The Children's Community, where parents and professional teachers worked together in the classrooms. In her 40s, Sophia returned to graduate school, this time earning a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of New Orleans. She was a published poet, and served for many years as poetry editor of New Orleans Review, a literary magazine.

After David died in 2005, Sophia returned to New England, settling in Barnard, Vermont, where she and David had been building a house. During her years in Barnard, she volunteered in the kindergarten and first grade classrooms at Barnard Academy, and served on the boards of BarnArts, a local arts organization, and the Barnard Education Fund. Recently, she was president of a women's reading club in Woodstock. She was a trustee of East Barnard Church.

Sophia actively supported numerous charitable organizations and causes, but will be best remembered in both Barnard and New Orleans for her personal generosity, always offered with grace and dignity - a place to stay; a ride to a medical appointment; a visit and conversation; financial help; a delicious meal; companionship in moments both difficult and celebratory.

Sophia leaves her three dear children and their spouses: Sarah and John Ehlinger of Dover, Massachusetts; Michael Stone and Elizabeth Owen of New Orleans, Louisiana; and Eva Stone and Ali Calisal of Washington D.C. She also leaves her seven beloved grandchildren, Alexandra, Lillian and David John Ehlinger; Owen, Peter and Samuel Stone; and Julian Calisal, as well as her older sister, Ala Reid of York, Maine, and her twin sister, Thalassa Scholl of London, England.

A funeral service will be held at the East Barnard Church on Saturday, June 14, 2025 at 2pm. A reception will follow.

In lieu of flowers, the family welcomes donations in Sophia's memory to Vermont Foodbank or Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans.

Photo Credit: Tara Wray