Some scholarships begin with a single act of remembrance and grow into something that outlives everyone who first imagined them. That’s the story of the Kochenderfer Memorial Scholarship, a fund that has supported nursing students for more than five decades and carries forward a family tradition of caring for others.
The scholarship’s story begins with Mary Blake (Taylor) Kochenderfer, born in 1888 to Scottish immigrant parents. A gifted organist and pianist, she taught music before marrying Rev. Dr. Harry Wayne Kochenderfer in 1908. Widowed at the age of 52, she devoted the remainder of her life to caring for elderly people as a live-in caregiver throughout the Philadelphia region.
When Mary died in 1969, her son, Dr. Thomas T. Kochenderfer, found a fitting way to honor her life of service: helping others pursue careers dedicated to caring for people.
In 1970, he established a scholarship at Sacred Heart Hospital to provide financial assistance to nursing students in need.
Dr. Kochenderfer had devoted his own life to medicine and service. A licensed physician and surgeon in Pennsylvania, he was a pioneer in pediatrics at a time when the specialty was still relatively new. He opened his first office in Norristown in 1939 and became the first Chief of Pediatrics at both Sacred Heart Hospital and Montgomery Hospital. During World War II, he served overseas for more than two and a half years as a Lieutenant Colonel and surgeon. After returning home, he helped establish a pediatric group practice that continues today as Pediatric Associates of Plymouth.
Deeply involved in his church and community, Dr. Kochenderfer remained a committed supporter of nursing education. A newspaper photograph from the era captures that commitment in action, showing Dr. Kochenderfer and his wife, Anne, presenting a “Christmas gift” to Sister M. Lucidia at Sacred Heart Hospital. The accompanying article noted that the scholarship funds would be invested to help deserving students in need.
When Dr. Kochenderfer died of cancer in 1972, his children—Rev. Thomas T. Kochenderfer Jr., Mary Blake (Kochenderfer) Stauffer and William T. Kochenderfer—added their father’s name to the scholarship he had established. Decades later, following the death of their mother, Anne (Yount) Kochenderfer, in 2010, they added her name as well.
The scholarship had become more than a memorial. It became a family tradition.
That tradition faced a significant transition when Sacred Heart Hospital closed in the mid-1990s. William Kochenderfer moved the scholarship fund to Montgomery County Community College Foundation, providing a new home where it could continue supporting future generations of nursing students.
The connection was especially meaningful for the Kochenderfer family. Mary Blake (Kochenderfer) Stauffer, who continued supporting the scholarship until her death earlier this year, was herself a 1964 graduate of the Sacred Heart Hospital School of Practical Nursing—a full-circle connection between the family’s philanthropy and the profession their generosity has supported for generations.
Today, that tradition continues through the scholarship’s two remaining family donors: retired Rev. Thomas Kochenderfer, who lives in Pennsylvania, and William Kochenderfer, who spent his career teaching life skills to individuals with mental and physical challenges and now resides in Arizona.
It also continues through the Montco Foundation.
More than half a century after Dr. Kochenderfer established the scholarship, Montco Foundation is honored to help carry his family’s vision forward. Through its stewardship of the Kochenderfer Memorial Scholarship, the Foundation works with the family and Montgomery County Community College to help ensure that the fund continues to support nursing students in keeping with the donors’ wishes.
That responsibility extends beyond administering a scholarship. It means preserving the intent behind a gift, maintaining relationships across generations, and helping a family’s generosity continue making a difference as circumstances—and institutions—change over time.
Since 1970, the Kochenderfer Memorial Scholarship has honored the lives of Mary Blake (Taylor) Kochenderfer, Dr. Thomas T. Kochenderfer, and Anne (Yount) Kochenderfer while opening doors for students pursuing careers in nursing.
More than five decades later, the family’s legacy of care lives on—in the students who benefit from their generosity, the patients and communities those nurses will serve, and a scholarship created in remembrance that continues to make a difference today.
