Evelyn Stebbins

Evelyn Stebbins, 96, died Dec. 2, 2010. She was born in Manistique, Mich., to Florence and Andrew Cooper on Jan. 2, 1914. She died one month shy of 97th birthday.

She married DeWayne Stebbins during the Great Depression. As newlyweds they were Colonists in Alaska and helped to settle the Matanuska Valley. She was a reporter for the Iron Mountain News for five years, reporting on Colony activities. All three of their children were born in Alaska.

After 10 years they returned to Upper Michigan where they farmed for 12 years in Faunus in northern Menominee County. During that time she was a 4-H leader for local youth. Later they lived for more than 40 years in Marquette where she worked as an office manager for Northern Michigan University.

When DeWayne died in 1995 after 60 years of marriage, she lived on her own in Marquette. At 94 she then lived with daughters Kaye (Lee Giesen) and Lynn (George Hansen). The past 16 months she resided in Milwaukee with Lynn, where she maintained long-distance ties with her large family.

Evelyn was a Catholic Christian participating in her faith community everywhere she lived. She also was a member of Women’s Aglow for nearly 40 years.

She now joins DeWayne, her parents, all four younger brothers, and a host of other relatives and friends. She is survived by her three children, Kaye, Lynn, and DeWayne Jr. (Barbara Gatien); also eight grandchildren; Tim and LeRoy Giesen; Troy and Kurstin Stebbins (Beck); Tracy, Jim, and Nicole Bellefeuil (Lobash); and Terry Pirlot. She has 17 great grandchildren and two great- great-grandchildren.

Funeral services to celebrate her life were Dec. 11, 2010, in Bark River, Mich.