Sabine Jessner Sehlinger

Sabine Luise Marianne Jessner Sehlinger died in Indianapolis on November 3, 2019. She was a professor of French history, the first woman president of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences, president of the Swiss-American Historical Society, several times president of the Indianapolis Wellesley Club, and the author of articles in professional journals and a biography of Edouard Herriot, French prime minister in the 1920s.

Born in Breslau, Germany, in 1924 to a Prussian father and a Swiss mother, Sabine was reared in Breslau and in Bern and Neuchâtel, Switzerland. With her parents and brother, she came to New York in 1941. After graduating from Wellesley College and Columbia University, she taught at Smith, Mount Holyoke and Brooklyn Colleges and Kent State University and then for twenty years at Indiana University, Indianapolis. She and Peter J. Sehlinger, a history colleague at Indiana University, Indianapolis, married in 1977. Following her retirement in 1989, Sabine and her husband lived in Indianapolis and Key Colony Beach in the Florida Keys. She was a member of Trinity Episcopal Church, the Indianapolis Woman’s Club, and the Woodstock Club in Indianapolis. In Marathon, FL, she was a member of St. Columba Episcopal Church and the Marathon Yacht Club. Sabine and her husband gave of their time, talents, and treasure to their parishes in Indianapolis and Marathon.

Dr. Sehlinger is survived by her husband Peter; and two nephews, Matthew Jessner, Brussels, Belgium; and Gregory Jessner, Pasadena, California. Her funeral service will be at Trinity Episcopal Church, Indianapolis, on November 23 at 11 a.m. and a reception follows. Contributions in her memory may be made to the Legacy Fund of Trinity Episcopal Church, 3243 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis, IN 46208, or Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, 200 South Meridian Street, Indianapolis, IN 46206.