Alumni Service Award Recipients
The Jean Clinton Roeschlaub ’44 Alumni Service Award is given to alumnae who have promoted Stephens College locally and nationally and have served as leaders of the College. The award memorializes Jean's spirit of alumni service. She served as AAB president from 1950-51 and as a member of the Board of Curators (now known as our Board of Trustees) and as the first alumni-chair of the Board from 1981-92. She was named for the Ideal of Forcefulness (predecessor to Leadership)! She would have been deserving of both awards. The award was named for her posthumously by the AAB.
2024 Jean Clinton Roeschlaub ’44 Alumni Service Award
Sally McClure Jackson '56
Sally McClure Jackson '56 was born Sarah Ellen “Sally” McClure in Kirksville, MO, to Dr. Harold D. & Marty McClure. As a child, Sally says, “All I wanted to do was horses!” In junior high, she began participating in local equestrian shows and received encouragement and guidance from Stephens Equestrian Program Director, Mrs. Shirley Drew Hardwick. This relationship led to Sally’s deep and lifelong connection with Stephens College.
While at Stephens, Sally began her life of service and leadership. She served as president of the Prince of Wales Club, leading a membership of more than 100. After receiving her associate degree in visual arts with a minor in equestrian studies in 1956, Sally received her bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of Texas, Austin, followed by a graduate degree from the University of Missouri. While in graduate school, Mrs. Hardwick hired Sally to teach riding and to campaign the school’s horses at local shows before her family’s moves to Kansas City and Columbus, Kansas, finally landing in Overland Park, Kansas.
All the while, Sally was establishing a highly respected career as a horsewoman and artist. Her professional achievements are both illustrious and inspiring. In 2022, Sally won the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s Pegasus Medal of Honor, recognizing outstanding service to horses and the industry. In 2023, Sally was inducted into the International Saddlebred Hall of Fame after a life filled with equestrian accomplishments.
Sally is also an accomplished bronze sculptor who blends her love of horses with an extraordinary artistic talent. Sally recalls, “I go outside and be with my horses, and I come inside, and I can still be with my horses.” Notably, Kentucky Horse Park features CH Wild-Eyed & Wicked, a 2011 bronze sculpture of her two-times World’s Grand Champion Five-Gaited and two-times American Saddlebred Triple Crown winning horse. Other of Sally’s works are in the collections of the U.S. Equestrian Federation and Lord Westmorland of London, England, among others.
And yet, she always found time for Stephens. In the 1970s, Mrs. Hardwick came calling again and hired Sally to serve as an artist-in-residence, returning to campus to teach a short course in equine art each year for five years. Sally is a founding leader of the Friends of Equestrian alumni group, initiated in 2002, with a mission to maintain the national reputation, recruit students, engage alumni, and increase philanthropic support for the College’s Equestrian Program. In 2023, Sally expanded her impact by establishing two significant scholarships to support students committed to equestrian studies at Stephens College.
Achievement Award recipients >
Past Alumni Service Award Recipients
2024
Sally McClure Jackson ’56
2023
Mark Taylor ’73
Judy Doyen Taylor ’73
2022
Janan Perkins Huntsberry ’66
2021
Diane (Campbell) Sher ’71
2020
Erleen Anderson ’91
2019
Diane Hunter Robertson ’86
2018
Jennifer Nitzband Flaks ’03
2017
Kerry Brocker ’82
2016
Doris Painter Littrell ’58
2015
Geri Blaha Bennett ’57
2014
Teresa Peacher Maledy ’78
2013
Jennifer Stout Brinkmann ’95
Sally Wibbenmeyer Gregory ’98
Shannon Blankenship Walls ’93
2012
Penny Scalone Kunzman ’67
Laurie Kempson ’77
2011
Kathleen Fung ’67
Diana Reese Groshong ’61
Julia King Muller ’61
Elizabeth Taylor Reid ’71
2010
Patricia Burnett ’67
Jill Griffith ’72
Mildred Swearengen Patterson ’60
2009
Gayle Flannery Bentsen ’67
Jeannene Thompson Booher ’56
Wendy B. Libby
2008
Rachel Gross ’93
Donna Ensign Marshall ’58
Kathy Stolte Sherrod ’71
2007
Wendy Parish Anderson ’92
Michael Quevli ’84
2006
Linda Podas Chapman ’65
Sara Jane Johnson ’56
Carolyn Skoglund Kuttenkuler ’65
2005
Joy Katzen-Guthrie ’80
2004
Laura Gross ’91
2003
George Ann Harding ’58
Choo Choo Hannemann Boyer ’65
2002
Frances Dare ’82
Gretchen Bush Kimball ’57
2001
Carol Anderson ’66-’68
Katherine Dietzen ’86
2000
Mary Josie Cain Blanchard ’67
Allen Hull Hermann ’63
1999
Mary Rose Silverthorne ’55
1997
Natalie Rosenberg Frager ’53
1996
Ellen Vollrath ’86
1995
Ramona Adams Kemper ’59
1994
Joy Underdown ’54
1993
Lois Hulen Todd ’49
1992
Patricia White Barry
1991
Muriel Hensler Lawrence ’36
1990
Jane Kayser Depew ’49
1989
Alyce Roberts Cheatham ’40
1988
Judi Strain Vanet ’73
1987
Jean Steven McVicker ’49
1986
Priscilla White Dunn ’40
1985
Linda J. Adler ’70
Alice McKell Roden ’69
1983
Bernice Linderman Williamson ’32
1982
Jeanne Akers Bloom ’55
1981
Margaret Phillips Burris ’29
1977
Bernice Linderman Williamson ’32
1974
Mary Lee Prunty Johnston ’40
1973
Sara Fair Sleeper ’35
1972
Kate Stamper Wilhite ’17
1971
Madolyn Youse Babcock ’44
1970
Christine Wood Graham ’42
1969
Ruth Lovelace Courteol ’19
Ann Webster Dearborn ’36
1969 (Faculty Alumnae Service Awards)
Naomi Holt ’29
Dorothy Martin ’29
Bernice Linderman Williamson ’32
1968
Ethlyn Wisegarver Bott ’18
1967
Barbara Courtright Nowell ’36
1966
Geraldine Hall Dalton ’24
Gertrude Buckley Windsor ’16
1965
Geneva Drinkwater ’15
1964
Ann Sorency Bedell ’30
Marion Cox Lichty ’35
Audrey Webb ’24
1963
May Laydin Chadwick ’28
Harriette Steward Fristoe ’25
1962
Grace Hendon Chancey ’19
Donna Stillwagon Hammond ’35
Nancy Johnson Schuessler O’Brien ’49
1961
Loraine Brunson Bohenkamp ’22
Helen Walker Eakin ’16
1960
Virginia Boos Bigelow ’41
Keitha Miller Deer ’39
Evalyn King Joachim ’29