Amanda L. (Nester) Ebeling of Weisenberg Township has joined the Robert S. Nester Funeral Home, 8405 Kings Highway, New Tripoli, as a fourth generation funeral director.

Ebeling received her Pennsylvania license in funeral directing in June 2018 and will be working in a partnership with her father, Robert S. Nester, at their family’s funeral home.

She earned her Bachelor’s degree in physiological psychology in 2000 from Arcadia University, Glenside, Montgomery County.

She then attended Kutztown University where she earned her Master’s in Education degree in curriculum and instruction and received her Pennsylvania teaching certificate in secondary education.

She was a seventh grade science teacher for 13 years at her alma mater, the Whitehall-Coplay School District.

As much as she enjoyed teaching, she eventually realized her true passion was becoming a funeral director and working with families to help them through their most difficult times.

Growing up, she watched her grandfather, Claude S. Nester, and her father work with the many families who came to the funeral home.

She saw the relationships her family built with numerous members of their community and how much they helped those families during some of the hardest times of their lives.

This is what eventually inspired her to begin taking classes at Northampton Community College for mortuary science.

She graduated with honors in May 2017 and successfully completed her apprenticeship in June 2018.

She also received the Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association Award.

Ebeling and her husband, Brendan, have two children, Anna and Ryan, who both attend school in the Northwestern Lehigh School District.

She hopes that one day they, too, will carry on the family’s legacy as fifth generation funeral directors.