Rebecca Lawler

Rebecca was born April 12, 1956, in Louisville, KY, daughter of James Calvin Lawler and Hattie Mae Kendrick Lawler and granddaughter of James Stanley Lawler and Ova Mae McClure Lawler and William Drayton Kendrick and Valeria Lathen Harden Kendrick. She was a bright and active child, demonstrating an inquisitive, precocious, and independent nature from the earliest age. She grew up in Jeffersontown, was a member of Okolona Baptist Church, and was active in Girl Scouting and choral singing. She travelled extensively with her family to visit relatives and to enjoy natural wonders, historic sites, and resort areas. On one vacation while still a preschooler, she first visited Williamsburg and declared she wished to return there one day to attend college at William and Mary. She was educated in the Jefferson County public schools, graduating in 1974 from Seneca High School where she was in the Advance Program and a National Merit Finalist. She graduated in 1978 from the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, being in attendance there one year with her brother whose welfare her father charged her to oversee, a duty she was proud to have faithfully performed. After graduating, she lived and worked in the Washington, DC, area, enjoying an exciting career and cultural life until, while still a young woman, she suffered the stroke that invalided her. After the stroke, she returned home to Jeffersontown and was able for several years to help her mother provide private daycare to a number of children who were dear to them both. Eventually, her declining health and mobility required her removal to Klondike Care Center where she resided until her death.

Rebecca loved history, politics, travel, lively conversation, and music (especially opera), and counted among her friends the noted baritone Sherrill Milnes. As an adult, she became a member of the Anglican communion.

She was predeceased by her parents and her brother, Mark Alan Lawler. She is survived by an uncle, John H. Kendrick of Doylestown, OH, thirty-five first cousins, friends Donna Fuller, Dan Hennelly, and Kelly Strader, and friends Sherry Archer and Cathy Guzio and their families.

The loving attention and generosity of Sherry Archer and the capable guardianship efforts of Josh Clark during Rebecca’s last years, as well as the compassionate hospice care she received in her final months, are gratefully acknowledged.