Personal Life and Education
Stevenson was born in Ottawa, one of three children. His father, John Stevenson, was a Scottish lawyer who was working in Ottawa as the Canadian correspondent for The Times of London or The New York Times. His mother, Ruth, had an interest in theosophy, and Stevenson attributed his interest in the paranormal to his mother's library on the subject. As a child he was often bedridden with bronchitis, a condition that continued into adulthood. Emily Williams Kelly, a colleague of his at the University of Virginia, wrote that the illness led to a lifelong reading habit, which saw him read 3,535 books between 1935 and 2003, according to a list he kept.
He studied medicine at St. Andrews University from 1937 to 1939, but had to complete his studies in Canada because of the outbreak of the Second World War. He graduated from McGill University with a BSc in 1942 and an MD in 1943. He was married to Octavia Reynolds from 1947 until her death in 1983. In 1985 he married Dr. Margaret Pertzoff (1926–2009), professor of history at Randolph-Macon Woman's College. She did not share his views on the paranormal, but tolerated them with what Stevenson called "benevolent silences."
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