Name/Title
Barn Painting, Attributed to Hope Bromfield StephensContext
One of three daughters of Louis Bromfield, Hope Bromfield Stephens was born June 24, 1927, in Paris, France. Hope's father, Louis Bromfield, an author, farmer, and conservationist, brought his wife, Mary, and eldest daughter, Anne, to live in Senlis, a small town outside of Paris, before Hope was born. Hope remembered the years they spent there as among the happiest of her life. Her younger sister Ellen was born there, as well.
Hope and Bob Stevens were married at Malabar Farm on December 23, 1950. They started their married life on a farm nearby. Their first daughter, Melanie, was born in Mansfield, Ohio, in 1952. The family later moved to a farm near Leesburg, Virginia, and their second daughter, Sara, was born in Washington, D.C., in 1954. Hope and Bob became very involved in politics, a passion that continued throughout their life together. They also had a full social life and spent many happy years traveling to Europe and a handful of times to Brazil to visit Hope's sister, Ellen, and her family.
In 1966 they moved to the Bozeman, Montana, area, buying a small guest ranch in the Gallatin Canyon just north of Big Sky Ski Resort. Bob started his travel business, Montana Travel, in Bozeman. The family enjoyed spending most weekends and holidays in the Gallatin Canyon. Hope loved horseback riding, hiking, cooking delicious gourmet meals, playing piano, singing, dancing, painting, drawing, and traveling, and she was passionate about gardening, her pets, and spending time in nature. Bob and the girls shared in her enjoyment of all these.
Around 1990 Hope and Bob moved to the Helena area, buying property (Little Falcon Farm) in the mountains along the Marysville road. By this time, they had become passionate conservationists, so they put their land into a conservation easement, and it became a nature preserve. They deeply loved their place, which became the center of their lives. Unfortunately, Bob Stephens passed away in 2014, and Hope died on October 25, 2016, in Bountiful, Utah.
- Adapted from research and text by Thomas Bachelder of the Malabar Farm FoundationLocation
Building
The Big HouseOhio State Park
Malabar Farm State Park
