Monica Anne Papendorp

Monica was born in Buffalo, New York, on July 10, 1932, the youngest child of Frank J. Deinzer, Jr., Treasurer of the Buffalo Evening News (now the Buffalo News), and the former Estella Lardner, a successful furrier and dressmaker from a family of prominent western New York State stonemasons.

Monica was a student at the University of Buffalo when, at the young age of 19, she traveled to Italy, where she lived for a year with her elder sisters, Stella and Catherine. Monica then followed them into the U.S. State Department. She served as a Code Clerk at the American Embassy in London. There, she met J. Theodore “Ted” Papendorp, Third Secretary of the Embassy. They married, had three children, and purchased a home in the District of Columbia.

Beginning in the late 1950s, the family spent most of over two decades in Europe, living in London, Budapest, The Hague, Paris, and Brussels. While in Budapest, the family became close to the Venerable József Cardinal Mindszenty, then Prince Primate of Hungary and Archbishop of Esztergom–Budapest, who was living in asylum at the U.S. Embassy since the Soviet Union’s invasion of Hungary in 1956. Each of Monica’s children received their Confirmations from the Cardinal.

In the early 1980s, the family lived in New York City when Ted, by then a high-ranking diplomat, was assigned to the United Nations. The family then returned to Washington, D.C., where Ted finished his career at Foggy Bottom.

Monica loved travel and all the arts, and the arts were a constant presence in the family home, wherever it was. Her children fondly remember their visits to numerous museums, cathedrals and churches, and historic sites, all thoroughly planned by their mother. The family regularly attended the theater when in London and New York City. A gourmet cook, Monica explored and mastered local cuisines throughout Europe. She nurtured a deep passion for the arts, culture, and creativity in her children.

While in Brussels, Monica returned to college at the University of Maryland campus there; while in New York City, she proudly received her degree in art history with honors from Hunter College. Monica spoke French and German fluently, and she and her family joyously communicated among themselves with an extensive use of words and phrases from French, German, Dutch, Italian, and Hungarian. After her husband passed away in 1998, she became a beloved docent at Dumbarton Oaks in Georgetown for almost two decades, and a devotee of the District’s theater.

Monica is survived by her children, John (Elizabeth Carlson), Monica (Ed Lenci), and Barbara, and her grandchildren, Carin M. Papendorp, M.D., Ph.D. (neurology), and John T. “Jack” Papendorp III, who is about to receive a degree in sound and recording technology.

As Cardinal Mindszenty wrote, “the most important person on earth is a mother. She cannot claim the honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral. She need not. She has built something more magnificent than any cathedral.”

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