Elsie L. Kennet
Elsie Louise (Mudie) Kennet, 81, passed away in Lima, Peru, on Jan. 9, 2009. Daughter of the late David W. and Sadie (Hartfeld) Mudie, she was born in Pittsburgh on June 22, 1927. During the Great Depression, her family lost the house her father built with his own hands (the house still stands to this day) and moved from Pittsburgh to Beaver Falls. She became the first in her family to attend college, first at Geneva College, Beaver Falls, and then at the University of Wisconsin, where she graduated with a bachelors degree in education, specializing in chemistry and later switching to English in order to make room in chemistry classes for returning World War II veterans. Elsie went on to earn a masters degree in education from the University of Pittsburgh and held several jobs as a schoolteacher, including a stint teaching grades 1 through 6 in a 1-room schoolhouse in Sewickley. She enjoyed playing the piano, bicycling, hiking and swimming, at one time touring the Canadian Rockies on her 3-speed bicycle. She led bicycle tours with American Youth Hostels, and while leading one such outing she met her future husband, Moshe Kennet, a university student originally from Israel. Elsie converted to Judaism, and she and Moshe were married in 1953. After moving to Allentown, she studied library science at Lehigh University, and earned her masters in library science at Drexel University in 1979. She worked for a time as a reference librarian at Lehigh University and eventually joined the library science department as a faculty member at then Kutztown State College, where her husband taught history. She remained on the faculty at Kutztown University until retiring in 1989. Her friends, relatives and colleagues recall her warm, generous and patient personality. Elsie developed Alzheimers Disease after her husband passed away, and moved in with her eldest son and his family in Silver Spring, Md. She spent her final six years of life in Lima, Peru. Survivors: Two sisters, Agnes Geertz of Monroeville, Elizabeth Bachman of Coraopolis; three sons, David Mark and Joel, both of Silver Spring, Edward of Macungie; five grandchildren, two great-grandchildren. Services: A funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, Bachman, Kulik & Reinsmith Funeral Home, 17th and Hamilton streets, Allentown. Interment, Beth El Memorial Park, Whitehall. Contributions: In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to her nursing home in Peru, Bikur Jolim, Guardia Civil 175, San Borja, Lima, Peru, or the Alzheimers Association, 225 N. Michigan Ave., Floor 17, Chicago, IL 60601-7633. Online donations to the Alzheimers Association are accepted at: http://www.alz.org/join_the_cause_donate.asp.
Elsie Louise (Mudie) Kennet, 81, passed away in Lima, Peru, on Jan. 9, 2009. Daughter of the late David W. and Sadie (Hartfeld) Mudie, she was born in Pittsburgh on June 22, 1927. During the Great Depression, her family lost the house her father built with his own hands (the house still stands to this day) and moved from Pittsburgh to Beaver Falls. She became the first in her family to attend college, first at Geneva College, Beaver Falls, and then at the University of Wisconsin, where she graduated with a bachelors degree in education, specializing in chemistry and later switching to English in order to make room in chemistry classes for returning World War II veterans. Elsie went on to earn a masters degree in education from the University of Pittsburgh and held several jobs as a schoolteacher, including a stint teaching grades 1 through 6 in a 1-room schoolhouse in Sewickley. She enjoyed playing the piano, bicycling, hiking and swimming, at one time touring the Canadian Rockies on her 3-speed bicycle. She led bicycle tours with American Youth Hostels, and while leading one such outing she met her future husband, Moshe Kennet, a university student originally from Israel. Elsie converted to Judaism, and she and Moshe were married in 1953. After moving to Allentown, she studied library science at Lehigh University, and earned her masters in library science at Drexel University in 1979. She worked for a time as a reference librarian at Lehigh University and eventually joined the library science department as a faculty member at then Kutztown State College, where her husband taught history. She remained on the faculty at Kutztown University until retiring in 1989. Her friends, relatives and colleagues recall her warm, generous and patient personality. Elsie developed Alzheimers Disease after her husband passed away, and moved in with her eldest son and his family in Silver Spring, Md. She spent her final six years of life in Lima, Peru. Survivors: Two sisters, Agnes Geertz of Monroeville, Elizabeth Bachman of Coraopolis; three sons, David Mark and Joel, both of Silver Spring, Edward of Macungie; five grandchildren, two great-grandchildren. Services: A funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, Bachman, Kulik & Reinsmith Funeral Home, 17th and Hamilton streets, Allentown. Interment, Beth El Memorial Park, Whitehall. Contributions: In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to her nursing home in Peru, Bikur Jolim, Guardia Civil 175, San Borja, Lima, Peru, or the Alzheimers Association, 225 N. Michigan Ave., Floor 17, Chicago, IL 60601-7633. Online donations to the Alzheimers Association are accepted at: http://www.alz.org/join_the_cause_donate.asp.
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