Eileen Graybill, 91, of New Holland, died Feb. 11, 2025 at Garden Spot Village.
Eileen was a retired teacher and pastors wife. She and her late husband, Lester, served Orrville (Ohio) Mennonite Church from 1958 to 1979 and Forest Hills Mennonite Church in Leola from 1979 to 1997.
She and Lester were married 62 years, until his death in 2018. Their family includes three children and two grandchildren: Dave and his wife, Brenda Martin; Beth, her husband, Stock Weinstock, and her son, Julian Graybill Brubaker; and John, his wife, Vineeta Gupta, and their daughter, Nikeeta Gupta Graybill.
Eileen was born in Lancaster in 1933. She was the daughter of the late J. L. and Mary Rutt, who were longtime Mennonite missionaries in South America.
Except for a year in 6th grade, Eileen spent all of her childhood in Argentina, where she grew up fully bilingual. She moved permanently to the United States to attend Goshen (Ind.) College, where she sang in the choir and earned a bachelors degree in elementary education in 1955.
In August of that year, she married Lester, son of the late John and Bertha Graybill of Elizabethtown.
As a teacher, Eileen worked in a wide range of settings and levels. In Ohio she taught elementary school classes and high school Spanish. During Lesters sabbatical in King of Prussia, Pa., in 1968-69, she taught both Spanish and English to adults at the Berlitz School of Languages in Phila-delphia. Later, she was an adjunct Spanish instructor at Elizabethtown College and taught English as a Second Language in the Conestoga Valley School District.
Eileen loved music. She often led congregational singing and sang solos in church and at community performances of Handels Messiah. She sang in a number of choirs over the years, including the Lancaster-Franconia Singers, the Akron (Ohio) Symphony Chorus and the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus. As a member of the Cleveland group, she performed in Carnegie Hall.
Eileen enjoyed reading and travel. She and Lester took trips to Argentina, Europe, the Middle East and many locations in North America.
Eileen was a member of Akron Mennonite Church. A memorial service will be held there, 1311 Diamond St. in Akron, at 4 p.m. on March 15. Visitation and a light meal will follow.
The family expresses their sincere appreciation for the compassionate care that Eileen received at Garden Spot Village. In lieu of flowers, friends are encouraged to contribute to the Benevolent Fund at Garden Spot Village, 433 S. Kinzer Ave., New Holland, PA 17557.
