Memoirs — Lilja Stefansson

My Coming Out Story

Lilja Stefansson was born in Vestfold, Manitoba in 1921. After the collapse of her first marriage she moved to Saskatchewan with her two children. A second marriage to a farmer in the Rouleau district, produced another child. After seventeen years that union also ended unhappily. By happenchance a close friend from church circles was in a similar situation. In 1971 they took a week-end trip to the States as friends. She and Evelyn Rogers came back as lovers. This was the beginning of a devoted relationship that lasted, as Lilja had hoped, until her death which was June 16, 2013.

The two women moved to Regina in 1975 and established a busy life, including participation in the city’s early lesbian and women’s community. Lilja was a prolific writer of short essays that dealt with both personal and public concerns. My Coming Out Story seems to have been written about 1995 and has been slightly edited for publication here. Lilja’s writings will be included among the papers of Evelyn Rogers to be donated to the University of Saskatchewan Archives.

My Coming Out Story