Stephanie Kaplan Cohen ’48

Member of Adelphi University’s Profiles in Success program.

Writer, Former President of Westchester/Putnam Alzheimer’s Association

Following Her Heart, Back to Writing

Stephanie Cohen wrote her first book in pencil at age 8. Nearly 50 years later, she proudly celebrated her Bat Mitzvah and received a word processor as a gift from her husband.

Having achieved one goal, she set about realizing her life-long dream of becoming a published writer.

Later that same year, her poem “Thanksgiving Redux” was printed in the New York Times. Since then she has continued to write about the hidden meaning in everyday family lives. Her short story “Rachel Sleeps Over” was inspired by her granddaughter, and is included in Passages: Timeless Voyages of the Spirit, an anthology of short stories, poems, and essays on the theme of the journey as a path to discovery and adventure.

Although she acknowledges “it is harder to write about emotional things,” Ms. Cohen’s work is often inspired by memories of her childhood and her relationship with her parents. Among her poems and stories, her mother’s eulogy is one work that she takes particular pride in. In My Mother’s House, a compilation of short stories, was published in 2007 by Woodly Publications.

Ms. Cohen is a regular at the summer conference of the International Women’s Writing Guild at Skidmore College. She led a workshop entitled “The ABCs of Submitting Prose and Poetry” at the 2007 session. It was her friend and mentor, Dr. Pat Carr, whom she met through the IWWG, who first told her “you are a writer.”

Ms. Cohen lives in Scarsdale, New York and is an active member of the Hudson Valley Alzheimer’s Association. Her column “Ask Stephanie” has become a favorite feature of its quarterly newsletter. When not re-reading Little Women, her favorite book, or meeting with her weekly writing group, Ms. Cohen spends time with her three children, three children in-law, and eight grandchildren, “who are all exceptional in all ways.”

Thanksgiving Redux
New York Times, December 4, 1991.

We really had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
I didn’t have to do one single thing.
“Just come, and if you insist,
we would love some wine.”
They had a group of really interesting people.
One man, studying for a graduate degree
in Dance,
conversed with his cousin,
a career man in the Marines.
The food was outstanding,
and people even said “thank you”
when I helped clear.
So tell me why, on Friday,
I cooked a whole feast
just for the two of us;
set a holiday table
at which we solemnly sat
and voraciously consumed
the identical meal.