Toledo educator served in WWII

10/5/2009

Margaret "Peg" Kendall, 86, of Toledo, a longtime guidance counselor for Toledo Public Schools who was in the Navy during World War II, died Tuesday at Ebeid Hospice Residence in Sylvania.

Her health had declined since she suffered a stroke in July and was diagnosed with a brain tumor, her daughter Victoria Kendall Jacobson said.

Formerly of Pittsburgh, Mrs. Kendall began her 33 years at Toledo Public Schools as an eighth-grade teacher at Robinson Junior High School. She retired as a vice principal of the former Macomber-Whitney High School in 1990. But Mrs. Kendall cherished her time as a guidance counselor at DeVilbiss and Start high schools in the 1960s, her daughter said.

"I remember her being up to the midnight hour working on college applications for students," her daughter said. "She was a big believer in education and furthering oneself in every way. She liked helping students do that."

Mrs. Kendall attended Geneva College in Beaver Creek, Pa., during the start of World War II. Rather than taking notes, Mrs. Kendall and her classmates were allowed to knit socks and scarves for the troops during lectures.

When she graduated in 1944, Mrs. Kendall enlisted in the Navy and worked as a communications specialist in Washington. She was discharged as a lieutenant in August, 1945.

She earned a master's degree in education at Columbia University, where she met her late husband, Ralph Charles Kendall.

The couple moved to Toledo in 1957, when he became academic dean at the University of Toledo.

Mr. Kendall died when he and his wife were in their 40s.

"Now I realize, as a parent, how daunting that must have been," her daughter said. "She lost Dad early, but Mom always carried on with her head held high."

In retirement, she volunteered in Flower Hospital's gift shop and enjoyed the Toledo Symphony and Toledo Repertoire Theatre.

Surviving are her twin daughters, Victoria Kendall Jacobson and Candace Kendall Johnson; brothers, John Henry Richards and the Rev. Robert Fox Richards, and a grandson.

Visitation is from 4 to 8 p.m. today in Ansberg-West Funeral Home. Services are at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow in Monroe Street United Methodist Church.

The family suggests tributes to the church.