Rebecca J. (Espenshade) Kenderdine

Rebecca J. Kenderdine, a former teacher and college fundraising director, died Nov. 16 at Hospice & Community Care Inpatient Center in Mount Joy. She was 66.

The cause was rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare type of cancer.

Kenderdine was the director of development for the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design in Lancaster from 2005 to 2007. She also worked in fundraising at Elizabethtown College from 1999 to 2005.

She was a school board member for the Elizabethtown Area School District from 1987 to 1991.

Rebecca Jo Espenshade grew up in Elizabethtown. As the head majorette for the Elizabethtown Area High School marching band, she twirled fire batons. She also was one of four students chosen to deliver the high school commencement address.

She received a bachelor of science degree in home economics from Albright College in 1968 and graduated cum laude. She taught home economics to middle school students at Good Hope Intermediate School in Mechanicsburg for the Cumberland Valley School District until 1971.

She moved back to Elizabethtown in the early 1970s. She taught at Elizabethtown Community Nursery School from 1975 to 1976 and 1979 to 1982.

In the 1980s, she studied financial accounting and computer processing at Elizabethtown College and held various part-time jobs while raising her children. In the 1980s and again from 1994 to 1998, she was an office manager for a dental practice in Elizabethtown. From 1988 to 1994, she worked at Engle Business Equipment in Elizabethtown, training clients on software used to estimate construction costs.

She was an active volunteer in her lifelong church, the Elizabethtown Church of the Brethren. She played in the handbell choir, chaired the church body’s centennial celebration in 2002, chaired the Christmas bazaar, served on its nurture commission and pastoral search, building and nominating committees, taught Sunday school and served as superintendent of the pre-elementary department, among numerous activities there.

She was a volunteer educator and pregnancy counselor with Planned Parenthood of Lancaster, where she won the Volunteer of the Year Award in 1980. In the past decade, she volunteered with President Barack Obama’s election campaign and Brethren Housing Association, a group that helps homeless and low-income women and families.

Her hobbies included reading, traveling and design. She advised friends, family members and her church on many design and construction projects, and she designed kitchens, bathrooms and floor plans for them. A friend’s two-story home was built using blueprints drawn up to match Kenderdine’s detailed sketches and measurements. She sewed many formal dresses, coats, soft toys and children’s clothing, and she upholstered furniture and made draperies for her family and church.

Her husband of 41 years, Henry S. Kenderdine Jr., died in 2010. A nephew, Jason T. Rhinier, died in 1988.

Survivors include her mother, Alma K. Espenshade of Lancaster; two brothers, Thomas J. Espenshade of Princeton, N.J., and John P. Espenshade of Littleton, N.C.; two daughters, Anne K. Kenderdine of Takoma Park, Md., and Susan A. Kenderdine of Selinsgrove, Pa.; two granddaughters, Ivy K. Hobbs and Phoebe R. Hobbs; and many nieces, nephews and cousins.

A memorial service celebrating her life will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 18, at the Elizabethtown Church of the Brethren, 777 S. Mt. Joy St., Elizabethtown. A private interment will take place at the family’s convenience.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory may be made to Brethren Housing Association, 219 Hummel St., Harrisburg, Pa. 17104, www.bha-pa.org, or to Hospice & Community Care, P.O. Box 4125, Lancaster, Pa. 17604-4125, www.hospiceandcommunitycare.org.

Arrangements by Miller-Sekely Funeral Services, Elizabethtown.