Selena Stone Pedersen
Selena Stone Pedersen passed away on January 2nd at her home in Cedaredge, Colorado. A caring and giving person, she lived a full and happy life. She passed away peacefully while with friends at home after a two-year battle with cancer. Before her passing, she was able to share Christmas, her favorite holiday, with her children and grandchildren in her Colorado home. Memorial services will be held at a later date in Cedaredge, CO when fairer weather prevails.
Born Selena Fontaine Stone on September 12th, 1935 in Roanoke Virginia to Norton and Emille Stone. Always an excellent student, Selena attended Wellesley College, UCLA and UCSB where she earned her bachelors degree in botany. She loved the outdoors and gardening and kept beautiful and natural landscapes wherever she lived. Her childhood was spent in both Roanoke, and in the coalfields of West Virginia near Bluefield where her father served as President of the local coal mining company. He also in the South Pacific Theater as a navy Commander in Word War II. Both of Selena’s grandfathers were doctors.
She moved to California in the 1950’s where she met and married Leo Pedersen in Los Angeles where he was attending architectural school. They went on to have two children, Katherine Pedersen Parker and Eric Norton Pedersen. They relocated to Montecito, California where they raised their children. She returned to Roanoke in the 1980’s where she lived near her father and cared for him in his later years. In the early 1990’s she moved to beautiful Cedaredge CO. where she had a home built and spent countless joy filled hours working in her beautiful yard and enjoying marvelous surrounding countryside.
Always an active volunteer in community affairs, Selena served on the Cold Springs School District Board and was involved in her children’s activities such as being a Girls Scout Leader and running after school art. She worked as the Director of the Montecito Association and as a travel agent. In Cedaredge, she was elected to the City Council and served for years as the Treasurer for the local non-profit Pioneer Town, a preserved historic western town and museum.
Selena is survived by her daughter, Katherine Parker, her husband Bill Parker and their children, Matt and Kevin Parker; and her son, Eric Pedersen, his wife Lori Pedersen, and their children Stacia and Zoey Pedersen. Selena was interred in the family plot in Roanoke VA. Donations may be made to Hopewest at hopewestco.org who provided Selena with hospice.