Esther M. Handschuh | Office manager, 86

Esther Mae Hall Handschuh, 86, a retired office manager formerly of Penn Wynne, died of lymphoma Monday at Bellingham, a retirement community in West Chester.

A native of York, Pa., Mrs. Handschuh graduated magna cum laude from Pennsylvania State University. She was then a food inspector for two years for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in New York and Florida.

In 1945 she married her college sweetheart, Charles E. Handschuh. She assisted him in his architectural practice in Wynnewood for nearly 40 years until his retirement in the 1980s.

Mrs. Handschuh taught Sunday and vacation Bible schools at St. John's Lutheran Church in Philadelphia and served on the Global Missions Committee at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Ardmore. She was on the board of the Penn Wynne Library and was a Brownie and Girl Scout leader and neighborhood Girl Scout chairwoman in Penn Wynne.

She and her husband traveled in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia.

After her husband died in 2004, she moved to Bellingham, where she entertained residents with piano tunes from the 1920s, '30s and '40s.

Mrs. Handschuh is survived by daughters Donna Carson and Paula Struble, four grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at Calvary Lutheran Church, 730 S. New St., West Chester.