Jean Stephenson Modlin died November 4, 2022, at home in Locust Grove, VA. Born October 24, 1929, in St. Mary’s Hospital in Huntington, she was the daughter of William Paul Stephenson, Sr., and Helen Wallace Stephenson. She met her husband, Philip E. Modlin, while they were in high school. They married after college graduation and were married for 71 years before his death on June 10, 2022.
A 1947 graduate of Huntington East High School, Jean graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Music Education in 1951 from Marshall College, and later completed her master’s degree in Reading Education from Marshall University. She began directing children’s church choirs when she was in high school and continued as the Music Director at Seventh Ave. Methodist Church and St. Luke United Methodist Church, which included all age level choirs and handbells. She especially enjoyed working with the children and youth choirs to produce an operetta or variety show each year. During college and for many years afterward, she played viola in the Marshall Symphony Orchestra. Her musical gifts included having perfect pitch. She was a certified Director of Music in the West Virginia Conference of The United Methodist Church. She was a member of Johnson Memorial UMC, Huntington, where she sang in the choir before relocating to Locust Grove, VA, in 2013, where she sometimes played for services at Zoar Baptist Church.
Jean taught in public schools in Memphis, Tennessee, and at Jefferson Elementary School in Huntington in the 1950s. She was the music specialist at Meadows Elementary for over 20 years, beginning in 1974, and later became an itinerant music instructor for Meadows, Spring Hill, and Hite Saunders elementary schools. In 1990, she was awarded the Ashland Oil Teacher’s Award for her work on the relationship between music and reading. She retired from teaching in Cabell County in 1995. In retirement, she composed the original fight song for the consolidated Huntington High School, “The Highlanders of Huntington High,” and also wrote a children’s musical, “That’s The Spirit!”
She was a member of a variety of organizations including Kappa Delta Pi Education Honorary, P.E.O. International, Marshall Emeritus Club, Marshall University Faculty Wives, and the Huntington Women’s Club. She was serving as the president of the Faculty Wives in 1970 at the time of the Marshall plane crash. She organized hospitality for families arriving at the campus following the crash, and she and other Faculty Wives were responsible for purchasing Christmas gifts for the 70+ children of the air crash victims.
Jean and her husband were avid Marshall fans, faithfully attending football and basketball games for over 60 years – even making the six-hour drive from Virginia for several seasons after they moved from the area.
With a lifelong love of horses, she enjoyed many years of retirement at Hawkhill Farm, their horse farm in Getaway, Ohio.
Survivors include her daughters, Barbara (Gary) Good, Charleston, WV; Joan (Robert) Prasse, Locust Grove, VA; Judi (Joe) Kenaston, Hurricane, WV; and Jane Modlin (Andrew Potter), South Point, Ohio; grandchildren, Laura (Nate) Good Kennedy, Carol Good, Shauna (Josh) Prasse Riggs, Christopher Prasse, Diane Kenaston (Adam Ployd), Rachel Kenaston, and Connor (Maria Niechwiadowicz) Kenaston; great-grandchildren, Oliver and Henry Riggs and Isaac Ployd; brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Robert and Jill Modlin; and sisters-in-law Margie Modlin and Sherry Stephenson; as well as a niece and five nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Phil, a grandson, Robert H. (Trey) Prasse, III; a sister, Ann Rice; and a brother, William P. Stephenson, Jr.
A joint Celebration of Life for Jean and Philip Modlin will be held in Huntington on Saturday, November 26 at 2:30 p.m. at Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church, with the Rev. Terry Deane and the Rev. Dr. Joseph Kenaston officiating. A reception and visitation will follow the service. Friends may also greet the family for 30 minutes prior to the service.
Memorial gifts for the Philip E. and Jean S. Modlin Scholarship may be sent to the Marshall University Foundation, Inc. 519 John Marshall Drive, Huntington, WV 25703.
Online condolences may be expressed at www.timeformemory.com/wallace.
