Greenfield woman, 89, crafts hundreds of pandemic masks to donate
Jackie Stebler pushes her walker among the rows of fabric. She’s in search of the perfect material.
When she finds what she needs, she places it on the seat of the walker and keeps moving. Her daughter, Karen Culley, transfers the fabric pattern to a shopping cart.
Jackie is on a mission to make more face masks for people because of the pandemic.
After an hour browsing, she rolls up to the area of the Joann fabric store in Cranberry where a woman measures and cuts the material. She makes her way to the checkout counter and pulls out her checkbook.
“This is my candy store,” said Stebler, of Greenfield, who will turn 90 in November. She said she has made more than 1,000 face masks for family, friends and people in need.
“I am not surprised she is doing this,” said Kristine Stebler, one of her other daughters. “My mother loves to help.”
Stebler said she doesn’t think what she is doing is anything special. She gives away the masks for free to people she knows or through word of mouth.
“This is just me,” she said. “I just want to do something to keep people safe.”
Stebler often stays up until 1 or 2 a.m. sewing. She has two sewing machines — one with white thread and another with black thread — in her work room and a table full of fabric and spools of elastic. The masks are double layered.
She has fabric in rustic patterns, leaves and pumpkins, witches and candy corn as well as Santa Claus, candy canes and gingerbread men, and others with cupcakes, tie-dye designs, dogs and camouflage.
Stebler sent masks to Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and Allegheny County Health Director Dr. Debra Bogen. They recognized her last week at a news conference.
“I want to thank Jackie for this mask,” Fitzgerald said. “Greenfield is a special place for me, because it’s where my wife grew up.”
Bogen said Stebler, a former kitchen worker at the Greenfield Senior Center, can be seen handing out masks in her neighborhood and out when she shops.
“Jackie, like public health officials across the world, know face coverings will protect her and the ones she loves from spreading the virus,” Bogen said. “We must all continue to wear face coverings when we go out. The face coverings are one of the key tools we to have to slow the spread and to protect people like Jackie.”
Stebler and her late husband, Gerard, lived on the North Side and had seven children. She worked at Ross Eat’n Park for more than two decades.
In 2008, she moved in with her daughter Kristine in Greenfield.
She has 11 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren. She began making masks for her family of 61. She kept producing when she heard others wanted them.
“She always told us to do things for other people,” Kristine Stebler said. “She practices what she preaches. She is tireless. She will stay up late to fill an order. “
Kristine Stebler’s twin, Korene Kegg, said she and her siblings never had to buy Halloween costumes. Their mom always made them.
“If I have half her energy at 90, I will be happy,” said Kegg, of Greenfield. “Most women give birth, but my mom gave me a life. Our mom treated us like everyone else. If we could do something, then we did it. She helped us be independent.”
JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a TribLive reporter covering the region's diverse culinary scene and unique homes. She writes features about interesting people. The Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist began her career as a sports reporter. She has been with the Trib for 26 years and is the author of "A Daughter's Promise." She can be reached at jharrop@triblive.com.
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