Janet B. Stine
Janet B. Stine, loving wife, mother, grandmother, teacher, farmer and community activist, died Feb. 6, 2017, at Quail Run in Parkville, Maryland.
She was born Sept. 28, 1927, the daughter of Colin H. and Karin Nelson Brown. She grew up in Rochester, New York and graduated from Charlotte High School. She met her true love and husband, Oscar Cebren Stine, at Oberlin College. They were married in 1951, and celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary in 2015 before he died in March 2016. Family and friends remember her love and caring, her energy and enthusiasm, and her perpetually positive attitude and smile.
Always an excellent student and lover of education, she graduated from Oberlin with a degree in mathematics in 1949, and then received her Master’s in Education from George Washington University. She taught junior high and high school students until she had her first child and then focused her energy, skills, and love on her five children. While they were growing up, she also brought her love of children and education to serving on the Maryland Committee for Day Care, as the head of Religious Education for the First Unitarian Church of Baltimore, and to the Explorer Scouts, Girl Scouts, PTA and other of her children’s activities.
When Oscar’s father died in 1974, Oscar and Janet became the primary operators of the farm, Elmwood, outside Shepherdstown. Janet took charge of the books, finances, house and gardens, as well as with the animals. The farm became an 80-head operation with prize-winning registered Red Angus. They moved there full time in 1985. She maintained Elmwood’s farmhouse, a national historic landmark, in immaculate condition.
Her love of gardening and farming combined with her interest in politics and preservation. For more than ten years, she served as a Supervisor for the Easter Panhandle Soil Conservation District. She worked towards zoning and quality conservation development practices in Jefferson County and the state. In 2000, she helped our State Senator put through the law establishing Farmland Protection Program for West Virginia. She was a member of the first Board of the program until she resigned to make Oscar and her own application for Elmwood to be a farm in perpetuity. An active member of the Shenandoah Garden Club for 30 years, she was awarded a West Virginia Garden Club State Life Membership while forming a close knit circle of friends. Other activities included the Jefferson County Historical Society, the League of Women Voters, Democratic politics, the VA hospital’s wives group and bridge groups.
Janet and Oscar shared their love of education, farming, scouting, music, dance and family with their children and grandchildren. Mrs. Stine is survived by her children, Oscar Colin Stine and his wife Jeananne Stine, Karin Elizabeth Stine, Nancy Meyer and her husband Donald Meyer, and Susan Donham and her husband Christopher Donham; and her grandchildren, Maryruth, Sarabeth and Oscar Charters Stine (Charlie), and Ryan, Aaron and Keith Meyer. One daughter, Amy Stine, died in 2008; her husband, Bill Brose and his fiance, Dorolyn Smith, are part of the family. Mrs. Stine is also survived by her sister Audrey McIntosh, her stepsister Arloine Shear, their children and grandchildren, and those of stepbrother Reid Weidman.
Services will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 11, at the Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church, 100 W. Washington Street, Shepherdstown, with the Rev. Randy Tremba officiating.
The family will receive friends at the Eackles-Spencer & Norton Funeral Home, 256 Halltown Road, Harpers Ferry, tonight from 6-8 p.m. Inurnment will be in Elmwood Cemetery.
Condolences may be expressed at www.eackles-spencerfuneralhome.com.