Jean Ahlness Stebinger (1922-2015)
Jean Ahlness Stebinger was a 1943 graduate of Concordia. She was stationed in the American Embassy in Cairo, Egypt during World War II and arranged meetings between North African leaders and President Franklin Roosevelt. She also travelled the world and participated in humanitarian efforts.
Jean Elizabeth Ahlness was born to Hans Adolph Ahlness and Frieda (Lien) Ahlness on July 2, 1922. She grew up in Rhame, North Dakota as the middle child of three siblings, with her younger brother Paul and older sister Adele. She graduated from Rhame High School and enrolled at Concordia College in 1939 on scholarship. [1]
During her time at Concordia, she became heavily involved in several societies and organizations on campus. She was an active member in Lambda Delta Sigma literary society as well as the national honorary speech fraternity, Alpha Phi Gamma journalism fraternity, Alpha Psi Omega dramatic fraternity, and Zeta Sigma Pi, the national social science fraternity. With her talent for journalism and love of writing, she was also the Desk Editor and an Associate Editor of the Concordian from 1941 until her graduation in 1943. Besides academic organizations, Ahlness also served as an attendant to the Homecoming Queen in 1942 and was a member of the college orchestra. [2]
Although campus life continued to be active during Ahlness’s years as a student, it was not without the shadow of World War II. As the United States’ entrance into the war came closer, many students questioned whether the U.S. should be fighting on foreign soil. However, in the years following the United States’ declaration of war campus life was upended with efforts to support the war. [3]
Ahlness graduated in 1943, and as she considered life after Concordia, she decided she wanted to go overseas to help the war effort. However, due to attitudes at the time, women were not allowed to be actively stationed outside the U.S. In her own words in her memoir, Ahlness stated “I’d like to go overseas like the guys do, but if I join the army, I can be stationed only in the States.” Unsure of what to do, she initially took a job with General Mills organizing ad campaigns but found it unfulfilling and quit shortly thereafter. Set on helping the war effort overseas, Jean responded to an advertisement for women to work in American Embassies in North Africa and the Mediterranean. She was accepted and first employed with the State Department where she trained for six months before being assigned to the American embassy in Cairo, Egypt. While working with the foreign service of the State Department, her work included helping arrange meetings between President Franklin Roosevelt and leaders of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Ethiopia. [4]
While in Cairo, Ahlness met Arnold Stebinger, a Mobil Oil Co. representative that refueled planes at the American Air Force Base. They courted and were married in Cairo, Egypt in 1945 as the war was coming to an end. Jean Ahlness Stebinger’s desire to explore the world to make change had not been dampened by the war, however. She and her husband continued to travel in the post-war years, living in Beirut, Lebanon for three years while Ahlness, now Stebinger, organized refugee relief for displaced Palestinian peoples. During this time, she also gave birth to her first child, James. They returned briefly to the United States before setting off for England. They lived in London, England where they had two more children, Anne and Peter. The family continued to live various places including Jakarta, Indonesia, Columbia, South Carolina, and Middletown, Connecticut. [5]
Stebinger’s career success continued throughout her life as she utilized her many talents to help the communities she lived in and to tell her story. After her four children were grown, she founded Nationwide Medical Recruiters which had over 7,000 hospitals on its mailing list. She sold the business in 1997. She also volunteered for various community organizations including serving as President of the Bronxville League of Women Voters, and she self-published several works of “memoirs and poetry” as she continued her passion for writing. [6]
Stebinger ultimately passed December 10, 2015, at the age of ninety-three. She was preceded in death by her son James in 1988, and her husband Arnold, who had long suffered from Parkinson’s disease, in 2003. [7]
Author: Kayla Adamek
Footnotes:
[1] “Jean Stebinger Obituary (1922-2015),” Hartford Courant (Connecticut), December 17, 2015, https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/hartfordcourant/name/jean-stebinger-obituary?id=15563488; Ahlness Children on a couch, Rhame, ND, circa 1933 (photo), in North Dakota Memories Collection, North Dakota State Library; “Jean Ahlness Wed In Egypt,” The Fargo Forum, February 18, 1945, 12; “Virtue Is Its Own Reward; Frosh Will Get Theirs In Cash,” Concordian, October 12, 1939, No. 4, 1.
[2] “Jean Ahlness To Go To Egypt,” Concordian, March 26, 1944, Biography Files Collection, Concordia College Archives; “Concordian Staff Increases By 20,” Concordian, October 2, 1941, 1; “Jean Ahlness To Go To Egypt,” Concordia College Archives.
[3] “Cobbers Consider War: Should We Fight For U.S. On Foreign Soil?” Concordian, December 1, 1938, War At Concordia College File, Topical File Collection, Concordia College Archives; “Jottings from the Editor’s Desk,” Concordian, February 25, 1943, 6, War At Concordia College File, Topical File Collection, Concordia College Archives.
[4] Jean Ahlness Stebinger, “From Washington to Cairo,” in Cobbers in WWII: Memoirs from the Greatest Generation, ed. James Hofrenning, (Minneapolis: Lutheran University Press, 2010), 67; Stebinger, “From Washington,” 67; Stebinger, “From Washington,” 67; Stebinger, “From Washington,” 74.
[5] Stebinger, “From Washington,” 75; “Jean Ahlness Wed in Egypt,” Fargo Forum, 1945, 12; Stebinger, “From Washington,” 75; List of In-Bound Passengers, United States Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service, June 6, 1955, FamilySearch; Stebinger, “From Washington,” 75.
[6] Stebinger, “From Washington,” 75; “Obituary (1922-2015),” Hartford Courant, 2015.