Isabelle Evonne Stelmahoske, 88, Stevens Point, a retired
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point English professor, died Wednesday, Aug.
3, 2016.

A memorial service combining Catholic and Quaker practices
will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 1, at the St. Joseph Mother House
Chapel, 1300 Maria Drive, Stevens Point. Her ashes will be interred at Guardian
Angel Cemetery in Stevens Point.

Memorials may be made to the Martha Merschiell Teaching
Award at the UWSP Foundation ([email protected]).

Pisarski Funeral Homes & Crematory in Stevens Point and
Plover assisted with arrangements. Condolences may be offered online at www.pisarskifuneralhome.com

Ms. Stelmahoske was born March 15, 1928, a daughter of the
late Martha M. and Valentine Frank Stelmahoske. She attended local schools and
graduated from St. Joseph Academy.

She received a bachelor’s degree from Central State Teachers’
College (now UWSP) and a Master of Arts degree from Marquette University, then
completed her doctoral course work at UW-Madison.

She was an associate professor of English, teaching at UWSP
for 29 years, retiring in 1994. She received the University Excellence in
Teaching Award in 1982.

After leaving the English Department, she was, as she put
it, “recycled” into the Department of Theater and Dance in 1998, 2001 and 2003.

She developed the Writers’ Workshop, a scholarship program
that honored high school writers. This was an outgrowth of her previous 16
years of high school teaching during which she felt that talented writers went
unrecognized.

In those 16 years she directed 32 plays. In 1992, she began
the “Theatre in London” program through the UWSP’s International Programs
office. The program has continued since then, providing three weeks in London
with the experience of 12 plays and guest lectures by British scholars and
theatre directors.

She also created a special section of an English class for
non-traditional university students for mutual support. She was the first to
supervise students’ writing internships in local businesses.

In the city of Stevens Point, Isabelle served on the Board
of Governors of the Monteverdi Master Chorale for seven years and for many
years on the area Community Theater’s play selection committee. She was on the
Commission on Aging and Disability, a member of the Long Term Care Council and
the Adult Day Center Committee.

Ms. Stelmahoske was one of the founding committee members of
the LIFE (Learning is ForEver) program for retirees and was active on its
curriculum committee. She led courses on dramatic literature, led travels to
the Guthrie Theater and taught the “Brilliant British Theatre” course for
several years.

She became a member of the Religious Society of Friends
(Quakers). She was also a steadfast Associate of the Sisters of St. Joseph of
the Third Order of St. Francis.