Amethyst Stephenson always saw the good in people.

That was partially why she was studying to become a mental health therapist. She liked being the optimistic, loving voice someone could turn to during a crisis, as she had been for some of her own family members. After working for three years at a high school in Montgomery County, she quit her job last summer to become a full-time student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County-Shady Grove.

“She could establish a rapport with people pretty quickly and easily, and she was very understanding,” said Regina Gretschel, a friend and former coworker at Thomas S. Wootton High School, where Amethyst was an English composition assistant. “I just think she would have worked really well with people who were having problems.”

Amethyst, 47, was beginning a new chapter of her life — embarking on a new career, leaving a toxic marriage and moving out of the family home in Ellicott City. She began taking voice lessons in December. This year was going to be a fresh start for her and her children — until it was violently and tragically cut short this month.

Howard County Police say Amethyst was stabbed to death Feb. 8 by her estranged husband, Alexander Stephenson, who now faces charges including first-degree murder. He had been in custody less than four hours before the killing, on a charge of violating a protective order, which she had obtained after alleging he had destroyed property and made violent threats.

The Banner, at the request of her family, is identifying Amethyst by her first name instead of her married surname, given the circumstances of her death.

Amethyst’s oldest son has since launched a Change.org petition aiming to hold accountable those responsible for letting Stephenson out of jail. As of Friday, it was just shy of 1,000 signatures.

There are few comforts for Amethyst’s family and friends as they begin to navigate a world without her, but the petition is one of them. It’s something Amethyst would have done, loved ones said: She stood up for what was right, even when it was hard.

Born Sept. 5, 1978, Amethyst was the only daughter of Martha and Steve Willey. She and her younger brother Jesse grew up in Gaithersburg, where Amethyst took dance lessons and made lots of friends, her mother said.

As a teenager, Amethyst didn’t care about being popular, said Hilary Bierman, who met Amethyst in seventh grade. She was artsy and a theater kid. And she always seemed to be doing something cool, like going to a late-night open mic or tying a cherry stem with her tongue, Bierman said.

She remembers hanging out with Amethyst after school, splitting a bag of potato chips and downing a Coke. Once, they sang and danced in the pouring rain “because we were kind of ridiculous in that way,” Bierman said.

Amethyst was interested in just about anything artistic, including painting and photography. She was good with hair and makeup and dabbled in costume design. She made the veil Bierman wore at her wedding.

“She definitely is somebody who gave way more than she took,” Bierman said.

After high school, Amethyst majored in English at Flagler College in Florida. She worked as a waitress in New York for a few years, where she met comedian and friend Brian Scolaro, who described her as “the hippest girl in the world” who’d laugh at just about anything.

“She was an open heart for anyone that needed it,” he said.

She then moved back to Maryland, got married and had two children, Bennet and Colin Chapple. They became the center of her world, friends said.

“If they were interested in an activity, whether it was anime or swimming or drawing or whatever it may have been, she backed them,” said Hollie Miller, who became friends with Amethyst when their children were in kindergarten.

She worked for Montgomery County Public Schools as a paraeducator supporting students with disabilities. It was a lifelong passion that started at home, said her mother, Martha Willey. Amethyst’s brother was deaf and had learning disabilities, and her father fiercely advocated for him. Amethyst was fluent in American Sign Language, which she started learning in high school.

“Nobody wanted to sit across the table from Amethyst when she was advocating for a child, because she knew disability law better than most attorneys,” Willey said.

She wasn’t afraid to make her opinions known and was also a strong advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community. Political rally happening nearby? It was a good bet that Amethyst would be there, her mother said. She also loved to travel and explore new cultures.

After divorcing her first husband, Amethyst started dating Stephenson and moved in with him in 2022. She became a stepmother to his three children and cared for them as if they were her own, loved ones said. They called her Amethyst or “Mamathyst,” Willey said.

Her parents are now seeking custody of Harper, Jack and Grace, to keep loving them in the same way.

The Willeys do not plan to hold funeral services but will host a celebration of life in the spring when the weather is nicer and the flowers are blooming. It will be an event “where people can share happy memories and not dwell on what happened to her,” Willey said.

The family is also working to establish a scholarship at UMBC in her memory.

“She was brilliant, she was beautiful, she was warm, she was funny as all hell,” her mother said. “She was kind and loyal and loving, and people confided in her because they could trust her.”

And she had a beautiful singing voice, said Sam Johnson, who started coaching the soprano in December.

The two were working on “In My Dreams” from the Broadway musical “Anastasia” — a show that pitches itself as a story of “discovering who you are and defining who you’re meant to be.”

Amethyst’s family is hosting an open house in her memory from noon to 6 p.m. on May 3 in their home at 412 Rock Lodge Road in Gaithersburg. All are welcome to attend, her mother said.

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