With new foundation, late Wayne County siblings leave $10M-plus legacy

Feb. 13—The brother provided dental care for generations of Wayne County residents. His sisters, twins who may be best remembered for riding their tandem bicycle around Honesdale, gave piano lessons to uncounted children in the family's borough home.

During their long lives, late siblings Dr. Robert J. Stegner and Joan M. and Janet T. Stegner lived humbly and invested smartly.

Now 13 organizations — 12 of them based in Wayne County — are poised to benefit in perpetuity from their generosity.

On Monday, Honesdale National Bank announced the launch of the Robert E. and Leila Stegner Family Foundation, created by the siblings in honor of their parents, who owned J.H. Stegner Grocery Store and Bakery in Honesdale.

It is anticipated the foundation will have a principal balance in excess of $10 million once the estates of Janet and Joan Stegner are finalized.

The initial round of disbursements to the 13 recipients designated by the siblings is expected to total more than $500,000.

"It's going to be transformative for some of them," Charles Curtin, Honesdale National vice president and trust officer, said of the annual donations.

The bank, acting as trustee for the foundation, said the Stegner name is well-known in Honesdale.

The family grocery store on Main Street, which the parents operated for most of the 20th century, was renowned for its fresh-baked bread and its fruit stollen and lebkuchen at the holidays.

Dr. Robert Stegner, who helped at the store and later delivered Western Union telegrams by bicycle as a youth, served in the U.S. Army Air Corps, receiving an honorable discharge in 1947. A graduate of the Temple University School of Dentistry, he practiced in Honesdale for more than 40 years.

The Stegner twins, Joan and Janet, were talented musicians, graduating from the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, where they majored in piano and trumpet. They could often be seen in matching outfits pedaling their tandem two-seat bicycle through Honesdale, waving to all.

Robert died in 2018, at age 91. Janet followed in 2021, at age 89, and Joan died in October, also at 91.

Curtin, who got to know the three siblings about a decade ago, said they were all accomplished individuals but could be described as homebodies.

"Dr. Bob and the twins all lived together their whole lives. They never married, and they never had children — any of them," he said. "They just saved their money. They were very frugal, and they invested, invested, invested."

He said the twins, who were fond of growing tulips and other flowers in their backyard, would dress alike even in their later years and walk hand-in-hand down the streets of Honesdale.

"They were just the cutest little ladies," he said.

Their brother, who had a soft spot for Hershey's milk chocolate bars, had a passion for investing and handled finances for his sisters, Curtin said.

"You wouldn't know that they had accumulated such a vast fortune by looking at them on the street," he said.

The 13 organizations selected to receive the annual donations include: Bethany Cemetery, Victims' Intervention Program, Wayne County Food Pantry, Wayne County Children and Youth, Wayne County Red Cross Chapter, Salvation Army, University of Rochester Eastman School of Music, Honesdale Ministerium, Wayne Memorial Health Foundation, and each of the four companies of the Honesdale Fire Department: Hose Company 1, Alert Hook & Ladder Company 2, Protection Engine 3 and Texas 4.

All of the recipients are groups the siblings had an affiliation with or believed would benefit the county or the public at large into the future, said Elizabeth Nagy, Honesdale National vice president and director of sales, marketing and digital banking.

"I really think they had sustainability in mind," she said.

There were specific conditions attached to some of the bequests, Curtin said.

For example, the donation to Bethany Cemetery is for upkeep with special attention to the Stegner family graves and stones. Under the bequest to the fire companies, which notes the siblings' father was a driver for Hose Company 1 in the 1920s, the proceeds are earmarked for equipment purchase and maintenance.

The Victims' Intervention Program, which assists victims of domestic, sexual and other violence in Wayne and Pike counties, was honored when it learned Monday it was selected as one of the recipient organizations, spokesman David Mazzenga said.

Although he did not know the Stegners, they had a reputation as community-focused individuals who were "very much about giving back and helping out," he said.

VIP's mission is to educate the community, empower victims and help people envision a world without violence, he said.

"I know this funding will go a long way toward helping us work toward those specific goals and continue to provide the services we provide," Mazzenga said.

Contact the writer:

dsingleton@timesshamrock.com, 570-348-9132