Jane Stevens Ashbaugh

ASHBAUGH, STEVENS

Posted By: Stephanie Fleenor (email)
Date: 3/6/2012 at 09:29:27

Jane Stevens Ashbaugh

(Mary) Jane Stevens was born October 17, 1920, in Seattle, Washington, the only child of Chauncey Graham Stevens and Ruth Esbensen Stevens. Her father’s family, including the Stevens and Graham families, were from Montour, Iowa, where Jane’s grandfather Stevens was a judge. Jane’s ancestors on the Stevens side had been in America for many, many generations and had fought in the Revolutionary War. Jane’s mother’s parents, a former opera singer with the Norwegian National Opera and a businessman who graduated from college in nearby Murmansk, Russia, had each grown up in Norway before emigrating to the United States.

Jane grew up in Seattle, Washington. Jane remembered playing as a small child on a polar bear rug which had been a gift from Roald Amundsen, the famous Norwegian explorer who led the first expedition to the South Pole. Amundsen gave the rug to Jane’s mother’s cousin, Clara Von Tangen, whom he courted for many years. Cousin Clara declined to marry Amundsen due to the length and danger of his polar expeditions; Amundsen never married.

Jane graduated from Ballard High School in Seattle in 1938 and from the University of Washington in 1942. She attended a summer graduate program in history at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. She taught high school in Washougal and in Tahoma, Washington. She then earned her graduate degree in French from the University of Iowa, where she roomed next door to Flannery O’Connor, the soon-to-be-acclaimed Southern author. Most importantly, she met her future husband, Harley Ashbaugh, at the University of Iowa in 1946. Harley and Jane were married in Seattle on August 14, 1948. She taught French at Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa, and then moved with Harley so he could pursue his journalism career. They later made their home in Sac City, Iowa, when Harley returned to farming. They had three children, Carolyn Ashbaugh, Mark Stevens Ashbaugh, and Elaine Ashbaugh. Jane later taught French and English in high schools in Fonda, Wall Lake, and Albert City, Iowa, and at Eastmont High School in East Wenatchee, Washington. Jane and Harley had four grandchildren, Brandt Harley Amlie, Derek Thomas Amlie, Karl Christian Amlie, and Laura Jane Amlie.

Jane was an active member of the Presbyterian Church and Presbyterian Women. She taught Sunday school for many, many years and studied the Bible extensively. She was member of the University of Washington Alumni Association and of the Sac City Fortnightly and Current Events Club. Jane was a former member of the American Association of University Women. Jane greatly valued education and heartily agreed with the message of her favorite bumper sticker, which read, “If You Think Education Is Expensive, Try Ignorance.” She was an avid reader and also consulted the encyclopedia, dictionary, and other resource books on a regular basis, whenever she wanted more information. Bothe Jane and Harley tutored elementary students in the Sac City School system after their retirements. Jane believed in the equality of all peoples and strived to improve social justice for all. She actively worked in support of the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970’s, attempting to gain equal legal rights for women.

Jane and Harley enjoyed many trips overseas. They visited Yugoslavia, Greece, Italy, England, Scotland, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Morocco, Czech Republic, Chile, Peru, the Soviet Union, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand. Jane described the city Dubrovnik, in the former Yugoslavia, as one of the most beautiful cities she had ever
This is all of the obit that was published in
The Chronicle
March 3, 2011 Page 7