 She was married to theologian Harold S. Bender, for whose books and articles she was the primary editor, the couple had two daughters.She took her BA degree at Goshen College and received her MA in German literature at the University of Minnesota.Bender translated works from Dutch, French, Spanish, German and Latin into German and English; most notably, her translation of the "Mennonitisches Lexikon" formed the basis for the "Mennonite Encyclopedia".