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Magaret Paxson Rhoads Kendon ’59

A picture of Margaret Rhoads Kendon

Margaret Paxson Rhoads Kendon ’59, August 16, 2012, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from cancer. The first child and only daughter of Teresa Folin Rhoads and Jonathan Rhoads, professor and department head of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania, Margaret came to Reed, where she studied history and Russian. She had a lifelong interest in the culture and history of Russia, traveled to the country many times, and was especially fond of the writings of Chekov and Tolstoy. After graduating from Reed, she enrolled at Cornell, where she met Adam Kendon, a graduate student in social psychology from England. Margaret and Adam were married in 1961 and moved to England for five years before returning to the U.S. Margaret earned a master’s degree in Slavic linguistics at Fordham University, while Adam taught at Cornell and did research at Bronx State Hospital. Following Adam’s appointment in anthropology at Australian National University, the family moved to Canberra, Australia, where Margaret was active with Canberra Friends Meeting, qualified as a second language instructor in English, and taught in Canberra schools. Back in Connecticut, she studied French and connected with New London Friends Meeting. In the ’80s, Margaret resumed her study of Slavic languages at Indiana University and the couple settled in Philadelphia, where Margaret taught Spanish for 25 years. Margaret was active in Germantown Friends Meeting, and was also a board member for the Green Tree School. For several years she served as a member of the Standing Committee on Education of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. A devoted mother and grandmother, Margaret also had a great interest in her larger family and more distant relatives, and regularly hosted family dinners. Survivors include her husband, a daughter and two sons, six grandchildren, and five brothers. “She will be greatly missed.”

Appeared in Reed magazine: March 2013