Teacher's focus was on special students

1/23/2007

FINDLAY - Ethelann Stumpp, 72, a retired special education teacher who oversaw programs in Findlay as well as Hancock County schools and later trained special education teachers at area colleges, died Friday in Blanchard Valley Hospital here following a year-long battle with cancer.

One of her earlier teaching positions was at Blanchard Valley Center in Findlay, where she taught children with mental retardation and developmental disabilities.

Mrs. Stumpp went on to teach special education students at Arlington High School in Hancock County during the early 1970s, her son, Chuck Stumpp, said.

She considered working with children with such distinct needs to be very fulfilling.

"She enjoyed working with these children, and enjoyed seeing the big changes that she could make in their lives," her husband, Fred Stumpp, said.

In the mid-1970s, Mrs. Stumpp took a position as supervisor of the special education programs for Findlay City Schools and for schools in Hancock County.

After retiring from the supervisor job, Mrs. Stumpp went on to serve as an adjunct instructor of special education at Bluffton College, Ohio Northern University, and the University of Findlay.

Before her retirement in 1991, she also worked as a supervisor at Bowling Green State University for aspiring special education teachers, her son said.

Mrs. Stumpp was born in Toledo in 1934 and was a graduate of Whitmer High School. She received a degree in speech and hearing therapy from BGSU, where she met her husband, Fred. The couple married in 1956.

She was a member of First Presbyterian Church, Findlay, where she sang in the choir and served as an elder and a counseling minister.

Surviving are her husband, Fred; sons, Chuck, Tim, and Dan Stumpp; sister, Mary Badette; several grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Services will be at 11 a.m. today in the Coldren-Crates Funeral Home, Findlay.

The family suggests tributes to Southport Presbyterian Church, Southport, N.C.