A reception was held recently at Autumn Ridge Assisted Living, where Stemen was presented with the John W. Whiteleather Jr. Award for her significant contributions to the Whitley County Democratic Party.

“This is really something,” Stemen said upon receiving the award. “I can’t believe it, but I want to thank everyone.”

Stemen began her service to the Whitley County Democratic Party the moment she turned 18 and cast her first vote at a Union Township poll site. She would later be elected and serve two terms as the Whitley County recorder. For decades, she has driven people to the polls so they could vote, delivered absentee ballots to those unable to go to the polls and vote, and worked in almost every election since the early 1970s.

Stemen grew up in Coesse, the daughter of Carl and Lucille Leininger and the sister of Darl Leininger, who would later serve as the Union Township trustee. Carl was an outspoken and proud Democrat. He worked with candidates to help get them elected and was active as a township trustee and county assessor.

Stemen was bipartisan when it came to being a good neighbor and friend. She transported people to the polls if they lacked transportation, regardless of political affiliation. She was also very active as a church organist, playing occasionally at Hope Lutheran Church in Coesse. She was a full-time organist at the First Church of God in Columbia City and has played the organ for many years at DeMoney-Grimes Funeral Home in Columbia City.

Stemen and her first husband, Ralph Culbertson Jr., had two children, Barry Culbertson and Pam Keckler. Years later, in 1986, she married her second husband, Edwin Stemen. Both men are deceased.

Culbertson was a Republican when he married Evelyn in 1949, but he soon switched and later ran for township trustee on the Democratic ticket.

One of Stemen’s favorite memories was a train trip to Washington, D.C., where she traveled with fellow Democrats to participate in a D.C. parade.

“It was exciting,” Stemen said. “Jill Long Thompson was on the train with us. She was running for Congress.”

Long Thompson is a former member of Congress who represented northeastern Indiana in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1989-95. She later served in the United States Department of Agriculture under President Clinton and as board chair and C.E.O. of the Farm Credit Administration under President Obama.

“Evelyn has been a lifelong, active supporter of the Democratic Party — volunteering, campaigning, supporting candidates, and serving as Whitley County recorder,” Long Thompson said. “She is very deserving of the John W. Whiteleather Award.”