Roberta Ann Kendall April 22, 1937 - July 21, 2017

Roberta Ann Kendall passed away at her home in Sisters at the age of 80. In Sisters and Seattle she went by "Ann," but for her earlier life she was called "Roberta." In Sisters, Ann was a founding board member of A Home to Share and thrilled to support and attend Sisters Folk Festival events.

She was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania, to Lucile Hayworth Kendall and William Hersey Kendall. Her father worked as a supervisor in the railroad industry, so the family moved at least once a year throughout the northeastern U.S. when Roberta and her two siblings were young. Prior to Sisters, Ann lived her adult life in Seattle; Salt Lake City, Utah; Jacksonville, Florida; Atlanta, Georgia; and Ellicott City, Maryland.

She graduated from Unicoi County High School in Erwin, Tennessee, and attended Brenau College in Gainesville, Georgia, for one year. Ann earned her Bachelor of Science degree in occupational therapy from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She was a member of Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority. Ann also worked on her master's in occupational therapy at NYU in New York City.

In the early '70s, she was one of the first occupational therapists to specialize in hand rehabilitation and had fascinating stories from her internship at Bellevue Hospital in the Iron Lung Center and 40-plus years in the field.

At age 65, she went back to school and earned her master's degree in not-for-profit leadership from Seattle University. A life-long learner, she continued to study the brain through books and cadaver labs, and was always willing to share her knowledge and healing abilities with friends who might need a hand with their hands.

She loved storytelling, loved animals - dogs especially - and had a very generous heart.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother James "Jimmy" Gordon Kendall.

She is survived by her two children, Lynn Woodward of Sisters, and David Woodward of Franklin, North Carolina; Lynn's partner, Pete Rathbun; Ann's brother, William Thomas Kendall; his wife, Patricia, and their sons, Scott and Michael and their families in the the southeastern U.S.; their son Richard and his family of Seattle; her cousins Rolfe and Cheryl Kennedy of Maine; her cousin Warren "Butch" Kennedy Jr., his wife, Natasha, and their children of Kennebunk, Maine; her cousin Thomas Lee Post and his wife Cheryl of Arizona.

A celebration of life will be held at Ann's home from 4 to 6 p.m. on Sunday, October 1; call David for directions: 541-549-1749.

If you would like to honor Ann, consider a donation to A Home to Share in Sisters: ahometoshare.com, or another not-for-profit organization of your choice.