Carol Eichner Dengler, 97, of Kennett Square, PA, died on February 3, 2021.
Born in 1923 in Montclair, New Jersey, she grew up to be a standout athlete, singer and student. At Wellesley College she majored in zoology and was president of the Wellesley College Choir. Carol married her childhood sweetheart, Carl Dengler, just before he shipped off to pilot B-24s in World War II. After the war, the couple settled into the MIT campus to complete Carl’s engineering degrees and to begin raising a family of four daughters. Following the Wellesley motto, “Not to be ministered unto, but to minister,” Carol dedicated her life to her family and service to others. During the war, she volunteered as a Red Cross Nurse’s Aide. While her children were growing up, Carol was a Girl Scout leader, affectionately known as “Mrs. D.” No ordinary leader, she took her scouts on real outdoor camping trips where she told ghost stories and bike trips to Maine and Washington D.C. She served as Chairwoman of the American Field Service Committee, opening her home to students from Malaysia and Sweden. Later, she became a Literacy and ESL Tutor in the public schools. Her love of fabrics and fashion led to a volunteer position as a Collections Assistant at the Winterthur Museum. Near the end of her life she became a hospice volunteer.
During a long life spent mostly in service to others, Carol never lost her sense of glamour and fun. She and her husband enjoyed singing in multiple choirs and choruses, and she played several musical instruments, joining family ensembles of children and grandchildren whose musical studies she had encouraged. She hosted and attended fabulous parties, dancing the night away in couture dresses made by her own hand on her mother’s 1922 chain stitch sewing machine. Carol made a warm and inviting home in the country where she hosted magical Christmases and summer vacations for her family. As a member of Spade and Trowel garden club, she cultivated a beautiful garden from which she made prize-winning arrangements. She was fond of animals and always had a well-trained German Shepherd by her side. A lover of the outdoors, she traversed the U.S. and Canada several times on camping trips. Upon her husband’s retirement, Carol traveled the world with him, exploring Asia, Africa, Central America and Europe.
Carol was predeceased by her husband Carl E. Dengler. She will be greatly missed by her daughters, Carol Anne Gander of Newton, Massachusetts, Leslie Smith of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Ellen Dengler of Hollister, California, and Martha Deno of Louisville, Kentucky, as well as ten grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.
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