Jeanine Kay Brendler (née Sofiak), 75, died peacefully at home in the presence of her loving family on October 5, 2023. She was an accomplished speech pathologist, beloved teacher, lifelong student and adoring wife, mother, and grandmother.

Jeanine was born in Gary, Indiana to Mary Jane (née Van Doren) and the late Michael Sofiak. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Purdue University in 1969 and a Master of Arts in French from Middlebury College in 1970. She later obtained a second Master's in Speech & Language from West Chester University. Mrs. Brendler worked as a Speech Pathologist for Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital and enjoyed many years teaching French at Friends Select School, Lawrenceville High School and the Walden School.

Beauty and love personified Jeanine. She embodied grace and decency. She was stunning in every way- her lovely, slightly unconventional taste in clothes, her scarves, her Swedish knit long skirts, long-sleeve blouses from her favorite clothing shop, Nina, on Rue Mouffetard in Paris, the alluring scent of Boucheron and perfume.

According to her husband John, Jeanine loved life and lived it fully, with passion, creativity, and kindness. She loved to laugh and dance and walk on the beach. In recent years, she loved her mindfulness class with Sue and Jeanne and Karina. She loved her water color and drawing classes and loved to practice her new art form. She loved having her own private room (her study in Swarthmore and her "jewel box" at our house on the Vineyard). She loved being quiet, taking the time to think and journal, which she did faithfully, wherever she was in the world. She loved looking out the window from her desk at the woods, sitting on our outdoor porch overlooking the woods having breakfast with me. She loved her long, dangling earrings and her finger rings. She loved knitting, and made a gorgeous dark green sweater for me in 1971 and magnificent Christmas stockings for each member of the family. She loved talking to her now 103-year-old mother whom she called everyday for 45 minutes and brought an extraordinary degree of patience and understanding to each call, focusing solely on what she felt was meaningful to her mother. She loved simplicity and all things beautiful.

Jeanine loved to travel, explore new worlds, different cultures, especially Paris, our home away from home, the birthplace of our falling in love in 1969 as students of French language and literature at the Sorbonne. She loved everything French- croissants au beurre, sitting in a café, frequenting our favorite bistrots (many of which were from our first time as students in 1969 with the same menus), shopping at local boutiques, Au Bon Marché, buying gorgeous handkerchiefs at Porthault, popping into bookstores and browsing, always winding up with a  purchase of a current highly acclaimed novel that she would read everyday. She especially loved  L'Ecume des Pages next to Café Flore on Boulevard St. Germain and Shakespeare & Co. where she would leaf through new and old french books in its comfy, well-worn armchairs. She loved meandering through gardens and walking all over, visiting her favorite museums (L'Orangerie, Marmottan, Le Musée d'Orsay) and Notre Dame where we went to mid-night mass on Christmas eve in 1969, and staying in her favorite hotel, Hotel des Grandes Ecoles, in our charming, small room overlooking a beautiful courtyard and garden.

Paris is where Jeanine felt most alive, most free to be herself.  She was so excited to get to our special spot in the Luxembourg Gardens, a beautiful small garden with a statue in the center, a two-minute walk from Rue Servandoni where I lived in 1969. She would be so happy if we were lucky enough to find just the right chairs for reading and people watching. Often we would have a picnic lunch there, starting at our favorite cheese shop, Barthélemy where we would taste cheeses and get our favorites (a strong Camembert, Brie, Roblechon, and aged Comté) to take away with some smooth pâté and a baguette and a half-bottle of red wine and grapes and figs. When she sensed she was dying she looked at me with the same eyes I saw when I first felt like I was falling in love at the Alibi bar in Middlebury, Vermont and said, "Listen. I want you to go to Paris and sit in one of those familiar chairs at the Jardin du Luxembourg or at a nearby café and write stories about our life together in Paris, along with many other scenes of the world we shared from those chairs."

Jeanine loved living spontaneously with me. She loved our road trips to the Vineyard, leaving at 3:30 am and stopping around 8:30 in Providence at Seven Stars Bakery for our usual pick up of a croissant au beurre and croissant aux amandes, a cappuccino and about 6 loaves of olive bread for the freezer on the Vineyard. Jeanine loved weather changes, all four seasons. She loved growing up on Lake Michigan, where she could walk from her lawn to the sand dunes. She loved reading, particularly murder mysteries by Louise Penny and classics, Jane Austen's novels, especially "Pride and Prejudice," which she read over and over. She loved Alexandra Stoddard's books, especially "Creating a Beautiful Home," "Living a Beautiful Life," and "The Art of the Possible," Two of her favorite books were " Smilla's Sense of Snow" by Peter Høeg" and "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" by Muriel Barbery.

She loved watching movies, late at night from the sofa in our family room, particularly mysteries and romances with happy endings. She loved writing letters, and with a fountain pen, with French ink- purple or sage or grey/blue that we bought from our favorite calligraphy shop in Paris, Mélodies Graphiques, on Rue du Pont Louis-Philippe, which has beautiful fountain pens and calligraphy pens that started her on her path toward drawing and painting. The pens fit exquisitely with her love of the beautiful parchment paper that came in different colors and sizes- just right for a short letter to a grandchild.

She loved fragrances, especially lavender essential oil and Boucheron and Chanel No. 5 perfume, and body lotion. She loved a good fire in the fire place. She loved April showers for new flowers- magnolias, lilacs, daffodils, tulips, forsythia were her favorites. She loved taking a morning walk with no wind. She loved hearing the birds in the morning. She loved wearing fun eye glasses. She loved a cloudy day to have time to focus on her day. She loved having the ability to work at her own pace. She loved organizing menus, making her mom's recipe of breadcrumb chicken, oat bran blueberry muffins, granola, Swedish meatballs, chicken paprikash and pot roast from the Settlement House Cookbook. And most of all, she loved being with me alone and with her family, her children and 7 grandchildren, who each lit her up in their own distinctive way.

Jeanine is survived by her beloved husband of 54 years, John Brendler; her children Michael Brendler (Amy) of Bethesda, MD, Cara Wagner (Chris) of Rowayton, CT, and Rebecca Brendler of Wallingford, PA; 7 grandchildren Sammy, Zoey, Issa, Lila, Benji, Jackie, and Kai; and her mother, Mary Jane Sofiak. She was the sister of Chuck Sofiak (Nancy) of Daytona Beach, FL and Michelle Stratmeyer of Ijamsville, MD and aunt of Keith Sofiak (Danielle) and Chase Sofiak (Brittany).

Friends and family celebrated Jeanine's memorial service at Swarthmore Friends Meeting, 12 Whittier Place, Swarthmore, PA, on Sunday, October 8th at 2:00 pm.

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Arrangements: Rigby Harting & Hagan Funeral Home
www.haganfuneralhome.com