Estelle Kiehnoff, a native of Troy, Kansas, began teaching at Walla Walla College in 1914, one year after completing a B.Mus. in piano at the University of Nebraska. Although a novice in teaching without a degree in voice, she taught in that area as well as piano. During her first two years at WWC she completed a B.Mus. in voice, studying with Grace Wood Reith, head of the department. She was described in the 1916 Western Collegian, a school yearbook of the time as "dainty, decorous, and debonair"; her singing was considered delightful, with a "delicate air."

Kiehnoff next taught at Union College from 1922 to 1944. During those years, she taught piano, organ, voice, and Theory I and II, and directed the choir when needed, usually in transitional periods between choir directors. The 1923 Golden Cords, UC yearbook, observed that she taught her students "to sing both sacred and secular literature with the requisite 'spirit and understanding.'"

During her time at UC, Kiehnoff took a leave of absence and completed a B.A. in music at the University of Southern California in 1936. When she returned, she continued to teach voice, piano, and theory, and assumed direction of the college chorus for a short while. She led the College View Church choir until she left to go to Emmanuel Missionary College, now Andrews University, in 1944.

Kiehnoff taught for seven more years at EMC, assisting in voice and piano, until her death in May 1951.

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