 She was the youngest of three children and grew up in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, but attended a Catholic school for girls in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, for a year, before graduating from a New Kensington public school in 1949.She attended but did not graduate from the Pennsylvania College for Women (now Chatham University), but continued to study music privately and performed in opera, in concerts, and on showboats.In 1953, she married Richard Bendl; they had three children.