A Place to Create: Honoring Artist Wally Hendel at Passavant Community

Most people spend a lifetime wondering what they’ll leave behind. At 102, Wally Hendel is still adding to it.

When Passavant Community dedicated the Wally Hendel Creative Arts Studio inside the Abundant Life Center, it gave a name to what residents had known for years.

Wally’s paintings have been part of life here for more than two decades—donated to support Lutheran SeniorLife’s annual Excellence is Ageless Gala, displayed throughout campus, shared as gifts, and admired by residents, staff, and visitors. Now, that work has a permanent home.

Wally moved to Passavant Community in February 2002. Since then, she has become one of its best-known artists, creating paintings that are now a familiar part of campus life. She is also the author of Memories of a German War Bride, a memoir that chronicles her journey from post-war Germany to the life she built in the United States.

“Wally loves the Lord,” said Passavant Community Executive Director Laura Roy. “She is a beautiful woman inside and out whose love for the Lord shines through not only in her words but in the way that she loves others.”

Standing beside Wally during the dedication were her dear friends, George Ehringer and Rev. David C. Baker, Ph.D., who joined in celebrating the naming of the studio and a friendship that has spanned many years.

The celebration became an opportunity to honor Wally through an act of generosity. Donations were made to the Passavant Benevolent Care Fund, helping provide financial assistance to residents who have outlived their financial resources.

“Wally is a gift to this community and all who know her,” Roy said. “She has used the talent that the Lord has blessed her with to bless others.”

Years from now, residents who never had the chance to meet Wally will walk into the studio that bears her name. They won’t know every chapter of her story or remember the paintings she donated to support Lutheran SeniorLife’s mission. They’ll pick up a brush in a room named for a woman who never stopped painting.