St. Mark’s is blessed with a collection of needlepoint kneelers lovingly crafted by a crew of women from the Parish during the 1970’s. There’s one set in St. Mark’s Chapel, one set in St. Nicholas Chapel, a St. Mark’s lion pillow and a beautiful set of wedding kneelers.
The wedding kneelers were made by Patricia “Pat” Rule Stebbins and given in memory of her husband, Colonel Albert Stebbins Jr. in 1981. (The Book of Remembrance). Pat and Albert met in August of 1923. She said that she attended many “chaperoned” dances at both West Point and Annapolis and that she met Albert at West Point.
“I came down to the porch to wait for my date, and my mother was talking to another boy’s mother. They asked if I would like to meet the woman’s son. ‘I said, is he tall?’” (Rooted in the Future)
After meeting Albert, who was indeed 6’2″, she forgot about the date she came with and by Thanksgiving of 1923 Pat and Albert were engaged. They were married in a military ceremony at West Point in June of 1924. (Rooted in the Future)
The Stebbins were a true military family – Pat said they lived in “35 homes over 30 years.” They traveled all over the United States and the world as Colonel Stebbins served with the Army, including stations in Panama and Japan. The Stebbins had three children – both sons also served in the military.
The family moved to Palo Alto after Albert retired from the army. In addition to her activities at St. Mark’s, Pat’s obituary described her active participation in many community and patriotic groups such as The Garden Club of Palo Alto (Obituary).
But Pat’s greatest passion was genealogy. She wrote a book about her family history called “The Rules and Exceptions” tracing 93 branches of her family back 15 generations. She was a member of over 20 different genealogy societies, including the Daughter of the American Colonists, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the First Families of Virginia, the Huguenot Society, and the Mayflower Society. Pat worked with the Daughters of the American Revolution to design special braille American flags for the blind. (Obituary)
Rortunately for St. Mark’s, Pat also loved to knit (socks and hats for premature babies at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and socks for veterans) and do needlepoint. She noted that while she worked she often watched her favorite soap opera, “General Hospital.”(Rooted in the Future)
Thanks to Albert Stebbins for his many years of service in the United States Army spanning World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Thanks to Pat for her years of service to St. Mark’s and other community groups and for crafting two beautiful wedding kneelers.
Colonel Albert Stebbins died in 1971, and Pat Stebbins died in 2005 at the age of 101! They are buried in the West Point Military Academy Post Cemetery in West Point, New York (Find A Grave).
