Nancy Elaine Bender

Nancy Elaine Sell Corbett Culver Bender (1937-2026), grew up in the 1940's and 1950's on Westminster Avenue in the Pennville neighborhood of Hanover, Pa. Her mother, Blanche Sell was a piano teacher and Nancy loved to play the piano. It was her lifelong passion, and Nancy had a piano in most of the many places she lived in her life.

Nancy graduated from Hanover High School in 1955. She also received a degree from Maryland Medical Secretarial School in Hagerstown, Maryland in 1957. Nancy lived and worked in Harrisburg, Pa., when she met her future husband at a U.S.O. dance in Middletown, Pa. Nancy married Wayne L. Corbett in 1958 and in 1959 their only child David was born at the West Point Military Academy Hospital. Wayne was a Sergeant in the Air Force. He had worked as a radio operator on "C" type transport and supply planes in North Africa in World War II, and on the Distant Early Warning Line in the 1950's on a C-54 type airplane. In December 1960 Wayne became a ground-based communications specialist, and Nancy, Wayne, and their son moved to Izmir, Turkey and lived there until the summer of 1964.

Nancy Corbett worked as a civilian Medical Secretary at the Cigli Air Force Hospital most of the time they were there. From 1964 to 1966 Nancy and her family lived at Shaw Air Base in South Carolina. Nancy worked for Dr. Masters at the Air Force hospital there, and Wayne worked at the base. From 1966 to 1969, Wayne was stationed at the NATO facility at Kolsas Mountain near Oslo, Norway, where Nancy worked as a housewife and raised their son. From 1969 to 1971 she was a civilian medical secretary at Barksdale Air Force Hospital in Shreveport, Louisiana. In 1971, Wayne retired from the Air Force and they moved to Prescott, Arizona, where Nancy worked at the V.A. Hospital as a secretary for Dr. Briney, a surgeon.

Wayne died of a heart attack in 1976. In 1978, as a single mother with a full-time job, Nancy earned her Associate of Arts Degree in Business Administration from Yavapai College in Prescott, Arizona. That same year, she earned the Certified Professional Secretary accreditation, and her son graduated from high school. She married Earl Culver of Prescott, Az. in 1979. They divorced in 1990 and Nancy moved to York, Pa. to be with her son and his family. She married Howard Bender of York, Pa in 1995, and they were married until his death in 2008. Nancy Bender was also preceded in death by her brother Thomas Eugene Sell Sr. (Tom) Sell of Hanover, her sister Jane Ellen Sell Maine, and Jane's husband David Franklin Maine. Nancy is survived by her brother and sister-in-law Timothy (Tim) and Susan (Sue) Sell of Hanover, Pa., her sister-in-law Annette Sell of Hanover, and her son David Corbett and grandson Austin Corbett, both of York.

A service will be held on Thursday, October 1, 2026, at 11a.m in Panebaker Funeral Home, 311 Broadway, Hanover. Viewing will be prior from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. in the funeral home. Burial will follow at Rest Haven Cemetery. Condolences may be expressed at `panebakerfuneralhome.com.