Stones received a joint honours BA in French and German in 1964 from the University of London.
Stones obtained her PhD at the Courtauld Institute and Birkbeck College, with a thesis 'The illustrations of the French prose 'Lancelot' 1250–1340'.
[4] In 1983, she was accepted to teach at the University of Pittsburgh, where she specialized in medieval art history and illuminated manuscripts for 30 years.
French Deputy Cultural Counselor Thomas Michelon praised Stones's leadership of a 2004 study on Chartres Cathedral of Notre Dame, and her work creating databases for details of the Church of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine at Vézelay in Burgundy.
[5][10] Stones was born in England and was married to Roger Benjamin,[6] a political scientist, researcher and education administrator.