Gerald Stebelton

Gerald L. Stebelton, known as Jerry, was born in Columbus, Ohio, on 13 September 1939, according to his family's obituary; his Wikipedia article gives his birthplace as Lancaster, Ohio. He was raised in Lancaster by a strong single mother who worked three shifts as a selector at Anchor Hocking Plant One.

He spent eight years at South Elementary School, where he sang in the boys' choir, and graduated from Lancaster High School with the Class of 1957. As a boy he climbed the High Street hill each week to attend services and Sunday school at First Methodist Church.

He worked his way through The Ohio State University and graduated with a five year degree in aeronautical engineering. He later earned his law degree at Capital University Law School in Columbus, studying at night for four years while working full time.

After university Stebelton spent three years with Grumman Aircraft on Long Island, New York, where, his family wrote, he decided that rather than building warplanes he would prefer to work with people. He and his family moved to Bexley, Ohio, and while studying law he worked as a contract negotiator for North American Rockwell and for Battelle, travelling to Tehran to negotiate a contract with the Iranian government. Wikipedia also records that he served as an assistant prosecuting attorney in Franklin County.

He then established a private law practice in Lancaster and became a founding partner of Stebelton, Aranda and Snider. As senior partner he helped the firm buy and restore the former Anchor Hocking Corporation headquarters at Main and Broad Streets, its home for more than 30 years. He was a past president of the Fairfield County Bar Association and received its George Martin Award, won the Ohio State Bar Association's first Lawyer Legislator Distinguished Service Award, and served as president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. He was also a member of Primerus and was named a Super Lawyer.

Stebelton served two terms as Lancaster City Council's second ward councilman and was elected to the Lancaster City Schools Board of Education, which he served as president. He was also chairman of the Fairfield County Republican Executive Committee.

In 2006, when incumbent Tim Schaffer moved to the Ohio Senate, Stebelton won the open 77th District seat in the Ohio House of Representatives. He was re-elected in 2008, ran unopposed in 2010 and won a final term in 2012 with 59 percent of the vote against Democrat Kelly Bryant. Term limits ended his service on 31 December 2014, and Schaffer succeeded him.

For the 129th General Assembly Speaker William G. Batchelder named him to the Republican caucus policy committee and made him chairman of the Education Committee. He was instrumental in passing the Third Grade Reading Guarantee and House Bill 96, which designated dyslexia as a specific learning disability in Ohio, and in securing funding for new school buildings in Lancaster and Fairfield County. In the 130th General Assembly he sponsored House Bill 247, removing the requirement that operators of automated external defibrillators be CPR certified, which opened the way for the devices to be placed in schools and elsewhere across the state.

After leaving office he worked with the National Institute for Civil Discourse, travelling the country to lead workshops encouraging bipartisan cooperation among legislators.

Stebelton met Rebecca "Becky" Smith when the two were ushering at a Christmas Eve service at First Methodist Church in Lancaster, and he asked her out for New Year's Eve the following week. They married there on 22 June 1963 and celebrated their 63rd anniversary in 2026, having travelled together to 49 states and 11 countries. They had a daughter, Laura, and a son, David, who died on 15 September 2025, and a granddaughter, Caroline.

The family joined First Presbyterian Church in Lancaster in 1973, where he served as an elder and Sunday school teacher. He was a founding member of the Lancaster-Sherman Rotary Club in 1986 and a past president, and the club named him Rotarian of the Year for 2025 to 2026. A loyal supporter of Lancaster High School, he chaired his class reunions, helped set up the Class of 1957 scholarship at the Fairfield County Foundation, was the first chairman of the school's Alumni Hall of Fame and was later inducted into it, and co-chaired the drive to raise private funds for improvements to Fulton Field.

Gerald Stebelton died on Wednesday 14 October 2026 at Violet Springs Health Campus in Pickerington, Ohio, after a long battle with Parkinson's disease, his family announced. He was 87.

Calling hours were scheduled for Monday 19 October 2026 at First Presbyterian Church in Lancaster, followed by a funeral service there with the Rev. Nathan Loudon officiating and burial in Amanda Township Cemetery. In place of flowers the family asked for donations to the church's music fund, the Lancaster Festival and Allen Chapel Church in Lancaster.

Stebelton's time as chairman of the Ohio House Education Committee left lasting marks on state law, including the Third Grade Reading Guarantee and the recognition of dyslexia as a specific learning disability, while his defibrillator bill helped put life saving equipment into Ohio schools. In Lancaster he was remembered as a lawyer, councilman, school board president and civic volunteer whose scholarship fund and school projects continue to benefit local students.