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Dr Benjamin Elmer Stoebner

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Dr Benjamin Elmer Stoebner

Birth	:	19 Mar 1927 Eureka, McPherson County, South Dakota, USA
Death	:	3 Jun 2015 Tehachapi, Kern County, California, USA
Burial	:	Bakersfield National Cemetery, Arvin, Kern County, USA
Coordinate	:	35.2559600, -118.6693480
Plot	:	Section Col-A Row E Site 123
Inscription	:	PFC US MARINE CORPS WORLD WAR II
Description	:	Ben E. Stoebner, long-time Tehachapi resident and a developmental optometrist whose work helped hundreds of people, died Friday, June 3. He was born in Eureka, South Dakota, on March 19, 1927. In 1958 he established an optometry practice in Boron, traveling to Tehachapi to see patients one day a week from 1958 through 1965 when he relocated to Tehachapi. He met and married his wife, Mary Jane, in Boron and they raised their five children — Ben, Ed, Meg, Liz and Andy — in Tehachapi. Dr. Stoebner's last years were challenging; he lost a kidney in 2001 and part of his leg in... Read More	Ben E. Stoebner, long-time Tehachapi resident and a developmental optometrist whose work helped hundreds of people, died Friday, June 3. He was born in Eureka, South Dakota, on March 19, 1927. In 1958 he established an optometry practice in Boron, traveling to Tehachapi to see patients one day a week from 1958 through 1965 when he relocated to Tehachapi. He met and married his wife, Mary Jane, in Boron and they raised their five children — Ben, Ed, Meg, Liz and Andy — in Tehachapi. Dr. Stoebner's last years were challenging; he lost a kidney in 2001 and part of his leg in 2002. Despite his medical battles, he continued his work with developmental optometry, advancing a theory that some children's trouble with learning is tied to vision and that they must literally learn to see. Many families were helped by his work in Tehachapi and elsewhere. He served in the Marine Corps and a funeral service is planned at the Bakersfield National Cemetery. A date has not been set. Follow up article Tehachapi News 6-15-15 The Tehachapi area lost a distinctive and remarkable man recently with the passing of Dr. Ben Stoebner, an optometrist who had been a local resident for 50 years. Dr. Stoebner and his wife, Mary Jane, a former elementary school teacher, have lived in a historic home on the corner of D and Green Streets in the heart of Downtown Tehachapi and raised their five children there. Dr. Stoebner (pronounced "Stabe-ner") fitted countless Kern County children with glasses over the years and was also dedicated to what he called "developmental vision" — teaching kids to read, write and work with numbers. He helped many, many children and adults over a career that spanned decades. He was one of the most intelligent men in the area with an extremely high IQ and was also a sports enthusiast, an excellent golfer and an avid supporter of Tehachapi athletics. Ben was born on March 19, 1927, and he grew up in the small South Dakota farming town of Eureka, which is in the center of the state near the North Dakota border. His family were German immigrants and his grandfather Andrew Stoebner was a South Dakota state representative and senator. Ben had a close-knit family and he maintained tight lifelong bonds with his brothers Clarence and Darold. Ben was a Marine Corps veteran and as a gifted athlete. He played for two different Marine Corps basketball teams. After World War II ended, he attended Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore., and obtained his optometric degree in 1953. He moved to Lodi where his brother Clarence raised grapes and sold insurance — when people from Eureka got tired of the harsh weather of the northern Great Plains, they tended to move to Lodi where there were familiar faces from their little hometown. Ben was having a hard time getting an optometric practice started in Lodi, and a couple of guys in a diner suggested that he try the area around Edwards Air Force Base, since the region was thriving. Ben took their suggestion and moved to Boron and opened up a practice serving the people of the surrounding area. At the time, there were only about three single young people in Boron: Ben, another guy who was a chemist at the Borax plant, and a young schoolteacher from Lewiston, Maine, named Mary Jane McCarthy. Luckily for Ben, Mary Jane picked him and the two were married in 1958. Ben helped people with their vision needs in Boron and the surrounding communities, including Mojave and Tehachapi, coming up once a week. In 1965, he asked Mary Jane if she wanted to move up to Tehachapi and she agreed, so the Stoebner family, which included their young son Benjy, moved here. The family later grew to include children Eddie and Meg and the twins — Andrew and Elizabeth. Ben's optometry practice was located in a building on Green Street across the alley from the Tehachapi Library (lnow the Tehachapi Museum). The building was owned by Mrs. Dewey, who lived in the adjacent large home, and a few years later, she asked the Stoebners if they wanted to buy the property and they agreed — so the family moved there in 1970. With such a central location and lots of kids, the house was bustling with activity. I know because I was there — Benjy and my brother George and I were classmates from kindergarten through high school graduation in the Tehachapi Unified School District, and I always enjoyed going to the Stoebners' historic home with 11-foot ceilings. Mary Jane was calm and soft-spoken amid the chaos of lots of kids and it was a welcoming place to be. The Stoebner kids were athletic like their father and played in all the Tehachapi sports, and Ben and Mary Jane were always there to support them. Ben was great friends with Dick Johnson, George Koutroulis and other longtime locals and I enjoyed hanging out with them and listening to their banter while covering Warrior sporting events for the Tehachapi News. Ben had a good sense of humor and the absurd and he loved to laugh. He was active in a number of community groups over the years, including Toastmasters, Kiwanis and the Lions Club, and he also wrote a column for his boyhood hometown newspaper, The Northwest Blade. Later in life he lost a lower leg to cancer, but he kept active anyway and known by some newer residents as the guy with the prosthetic leg with the American flag on it, which was painted by his artistic daughter Meg. In an introduction to his book on developmental vision, Ben wrote this paragraph that impressed me and stuck with me over the years, as it acknowledged an often underappreciated segment of society: "This book was written for a special group of people: mothers, grandmothers and elementary school teachers... you are the people who develop our children's abilities for survival and academic intelligence. You do the work. You are important people. You are special people." It is a true and wise statement from an unusual and intelligent man. A funeral service for Dr. Ben Stoebner will be held on Friday, June 26, at 10 a.m., at the Bakersfield National Cemetery, followed by a reception at the Woods Pavilion, 323 W. “F” St.

frequently asked questions (FAQ):

Where is Dr Benjamin Elmer Stoebner's memorial?
Dr Benjamin Elmer Stoebner's memorial is located at: Bakersfield National Cemetery, Arvin, Kern County, USA.
When did Dr Benjamin Elmer Stoebner death?
Dr Benjamin Elmer Stoebner death on 3 Jun 2015 in Tehachapi, Kern County, California, USA
Where are the coordinates of the Dr Benjamin Elmer Stoebner's memorial?
Latitude: 35.2559600
Longitude: -118.6693480

Family Members:

Parent

Andrew Stoebner

(1897 - 1979)

Emma Krein Stoebner

(1898 - 1987)

Siblings

Flowers:

Nearby Cemetories:

1. Bakersfield National Cemetery
Arvin, Kern County, USA
Coordinate: 35.2559600, -118.6693480

2. Fickert Family Cemetery
Bear Valley Springs, Kern County, USA
Coordinate: 35.1697260, -118.6443350

3. Cesar E. Chavez National Monument
Keene, Kern County, USA
Coordinate: 35.2236000, -118.5592400

4. Tehachapi Cove Cemetery
Tehachapi, Kern County, USA
Coordinate: 35.1190000, -118.5724600

5. Rankin Cemetery
Walker Basin, Kern County, USA
Coordinate: 35.3844560, -118.5388890

6. Brite Family Cemetery
Tehachapi, Kern County, USA
Coordinate: 35.1085350, -118.5473470

7. Arvin Cemetery
Arvin, Kern County, USA
Coordinate: 35.2132300, -118.8952700

8. Old Tehachapi Cemetery
Tehachapi, Kern County, USA
Coordinate: 35.1400990, -118.4795570

9. Paris-Loraine Cemetery
Loraine, Kern County, USA
Coordinate: 35.3059000, -118.4355000

10. Tehachapi Westside Cemetery
Tehachapi, Kern County, USA
Coordinate: 35.1387400, -118.4633600

11. Tejon Indian Settlement Cemetery
Kern County, USA
Coordinate: 35.0422000, -118.6553900

12. Hillcrest Memorial Park
Bakersfield, Kern County, USA
Coordinate: 35.3814316, -118.9012527

13. Buhn Ranch Cemetery
Tehachapi, Kern County, USA
Coordinate: 35.1352210, -118.4319290

14. Williams Burial Site
Walker Basin, Kern County, USA
Coordinate: 35.4320950, -118.4815680

15. Tehachapi Eastside Cemetery
Tehachapi, Kern County, USA
Coordinate: 35.1329000, -118.4153200

16. Kuntz Ranch Cemetery
Bakersfield, Kern County, USA
Coordinate: 35.4373560, -118.9390180

17. Saint Joseph Cemetery
Havilah, Kern County, USA
Coordinate: 35.5147500, -118.5177700

18. Union Cemetery
Bakersfield, Kern County, USA
Coordinate: 35.3646500, -118.9948700

19. Home of Peace Jewish Cemetery
Bakersfield, Kern County, USA
Coordinate: 35.3631500, -118.9987400

20. Greenlawn Cemetery and Mortuary
Bakersfield, Kern County, USA
Coordinate: 35.4067001, -118.9856033

21. Greenlawn Southwest Mortuary and Cemetery
Bakersfield, Kern County, USA
Coordinate: 35.2948990, -119.0330810

22. Chinese Cemetery
Bakersfield, Kern County, USA
Coordinate: 35.3510550, -119.0273380

23. Sand Canyon Cemetery
Tehachapi, Kern County, USA
Coordinate: 35.1331320, -118.3150210

24. Saint Pauls Episcopal Church Columbarium
Bakersfield, Kern County, USA
Coordinate: 35.3746120, -119.0277940