Penelope “Penny” Estabrook Mirchandani passed away in New Delhi, India on August 17, 2023, at the age of 88. Penny spent her adult life primarily in New Delhi, but until the COID-19 pandemic, she regularly returned to her beloved home in Brandon, VT yearly.
Penny Estabrook was born on October 30, 1934 in Rutland, VT to John Seeley Estabrook and Evelyn Greene. As a child during World War 2, she formed and was president of a Junior Red Cross club in Brandon which donated funds to support the Red Cross. She attended Barry College and Columbia University, where she wrote her Ph.D. dissertation on Indian classical music. She received a Ford Foundation Fellowship to study Indian music. Her western classical training focused on piano, and in India she became a sitar student of one of India’s most renowned musicians, Pandit Ravi Shankar. Besides her passion for the sitar, Dr. E, as her students knew her, headed the Music Department for the American International School/ American Embassy School in New Delhi for many years, and she brought the joy of music to generations of students at AIS/AES. Penny also taught music and tap dance at the Delhi School of Music and piano to select students.
Penny married K.T. Mirchandani in New Delhi, India on January 21, 1973. Mr. Mirchandani was with the Ministry of Indian Railways and they lived in Delhi throughout their lives. Mr. Mirchandani died in 2007, and Penny continued to live in New Delhi until her death.
Penny maintained strong ties in Vermont. She maintained her family home on Franklin Street. She returned yearly for the summer and also the holidays with a stopover at The Hotel Wellington in New York City. In honor of her beloved grandfather and father, Penny oversaw both the John W. and John Seeley Estabrook Scholarship Fund, established in 1956 for students in the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont, and the John Seeley Estabrook Memorial Trust Award, established in 1986 in recognition of outstanding residents of Brandon and the surrounding areas pursuing activities in the fields of medicine and/or sports.
A gathering of remembrance for Penny Estabrook took place at Café Provence in Brandon on Sunday, November 12 from 11-3. Donations in her name are welcomed at the Neshobe School Music Department c/o Julia Murach Neshobe School 17 Neshobe Circle, Brandon, VT 05733.
