Evelyn Duerler Stearns

Evelyn Duerler Stearns was born July 20, 1906 in San Antonio into a pioneer Texas family. The great-granddaughter of Dr. Ferdinand Herff, she was pre-deceased by her parents, Alfred and Ellen Herff Duerler, her sister, Dorothy Duerler Hill, and her first husband, George F. Handel.

Evelyn attended Bonn-Avon School, San Antonio; The Ogontz School in Philadelphia and The Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. In the late 1920's she began her singing career in San Antonio and New York City. It took her to many places throughout the world, as her lovely soprano voice was featured in operas, musicals, radio broadcasts and in La Boheme, the first opera televised by NBC. During World War II, she sang throughout the British Isles for Allied Forces.

She married George F. Handel in 1951 and lived in New York City, often spending winters at their home in Boerne. After his death, she moved to San Antonio and Boerne, and in 1971, married Henry Stearns. They enjoyed raising prize-winning longhorns and entertaining family and friends at the Boerne ranch, and exploring the region around their property near Capote Falls in far West Texas. Evelyn became an ardent and successful painter, exhibiting and selling primarily landscapes of her beloved hills and streams around Boerne.

She is survived by her husband, Henry Stearns; her niece, Eleanor Hill Lamb; her cousins, F.H. Rees and Lisa Marley Roach, and many other nieces, nephews and cousins.

Gifts in Evelyn's name may be made to The San Antonio Symphony, The Southwest School of Art and Craft, The Cibolo Nature Center in Boerne or a charity of one's choice.