TEC3 US Army, Eleanor “Jerry” Stone Roensch

Eleanor Stone Roensch enlisted in the Women’s Amy Corps (WAC) on March 23^rd, 1944. ¹ After completing basic training at Fort Oglethorpe in Georgia, she was deployed to Los Alamos, New Mexico on May 31^st, 1944. ² As part of the 9812th Technical Service Unit, she served as a telephone operator connecting calls across the work site. ^{1, 3} Honorably discharged on April 7, 1946, Stone received the American Theater Campaign Ribbon, the Victory Ribbon, the Good Conduct Medal, and the Meritorious Unit Award. ⁴

In 1945, she married Arno Roensch, who worked as a scientific glassblower at Los Alamos National Laboratory. ^{5, 6} In her book Life Within Limits, she writes, “Looking back I can see that these wartime years at Los Alamos were wonderful times…. We could look up at the blue sky and the stars that were closer here than I’ve ever seen them any place else in the world.” ¹ She told the Atomic Heritage Foundation that she initially wanted to go overseas, but the WAC lieutenant who interviewed her said there was critical and confidential work to be done elsewhere. She explained, “I was very patriotic, wanted to do whatever I could for the war effort. And when she told me this would be harder than overseas, because maybe I would not be getting home until the war was over. I would not be able to tell my family where I was. That it was important war work. So I was very happy to go.” ⁷

Stone was born in Rochester, New York to Gertrude Dembs and Dr. James D. Stone. ⁸ In an interview she said, “My family was a musical family. Everybody sang. My father was the conductor of the Knights of Columbus Choral Society and church choirs. My whole background, my whole family, was interested in singing.” ⁷ While attending attended Charlotte Junior-Senior High School, French was her favorite course, and she was involved in choir, volleyball, basketball, and swimming. ^{1, 2} She graduated in 1938.

After leaving the military, Stone stayed on at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a civilian, working at the Procurement Office. 4 She and her husband Arno raised four children. ⁵ She told the Atomic Heritage Foundation, “We met, we fell in love, we married, we had our family here. We contributed to the community, I hope we did.” ⁷ In 1971, she moved to Albuquerque where she studied English and French at the University of New Mexico (UNM), and completed two summer sessions (1972, 1975) at the Louvre. ⁵ She acted as associate editor of a French student magazine at UNM and sang with the University Chorus. ^{5, 6} During this time, she started the first Alliance Francaise classes in Albuquerque teaching French to adults. ^{5, 6, 8} After receiving her bachelor’s with distinction in 1974, Stone Roensch taught English and French at local public schools. ⁵ In 1993 she published Life Within Limits, a book about her early days at Los Alamos Laboratory. ¹

Stone received the Meritorious Service Plaque for her work at Los Alamos and contributions to the Manhattan Project. ⁹ Her husband Arno told the Albuquerque Tribune, “She was an intelligent, intense person who was gifted in many areas. She loved all the arts.” ⁶ She made charcoal portraits, and ceramics, and was a silversmith. She used to say, “A woman’s life is complete when she has had a baby, planted a tree, and written a book.” ⁵