Kristen Stevenson: Mom, Frontline Hero and So Much More

Glens Falls Police say that on Tuesday afternoon, Kristen Stevenson accidentally walked into the path of a snow plow.  The driver of the vehicle, 59-year-old Roger Maher of Hudson Falls, didn't see her while he was backing up.  And just like that, a life was taken and countless others were altered indefinitely.

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Once in a while, people enter our life who shine a little differently.  Maybe it's their energy, vibe or maybe it's something else.  They might be bright, funny, intelligent, positive, caring, hard-working, compassionate or maybe they're all of those things.  Kristen L. Stevenson from Queensbury seemed like the kind of person who was many of those things.

I didn't know her, in fact I just learned her name last night.  But once I did, I immediately searched to find anything I could about this 33-year-old frontline hero, who in the cruelest twist of fate, died in front of the place where she gave so many people, so much life.

She sadly leaves behind a 13-year-old son named Landon, a sister who also works at Glens Falls Hospital, her father, her son's father, a significant other and countless colleagues, friends and family who described her as a light, brilliant, a beacon, a star and countless other adjectives.  The kind of words that people use to describe the good ones that enter our lives.

Kristen was written about in a very nice piece on People.com.  In that article, I was able to learn that she had been working at the hospital as a cardiac catheterization nurse since 2011. In another piece by the Glens Falls Post Star, I learned that her late mother  Connie also worked at Glens Falls Hospital for many years.

It pains me beyond words to know that a young man named Landon lost his mommy. It saddens me to think that a man named Roger has to live his life tormented by what he experienced on Tuesday afternoon in front of that hospital.  And it breaks my heart to know that for so many people, their beacon, their light, their star is gone.

For whatever reason, we accept less and less people into our world these days.  Maybe we're just too consumed with work, family, the pandemic, political discourse, or some other thing to have time for anybody else.

But once in a while, people enter our lives who shine a little differently and while I didn't know Kristen, I think it's safe to say she was one of them.

May She Rest In Peace.