Mary Kathryn Lehman
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Mary Kathryn Lehman
Mary Kathryn (Fischer) Lehman, age 87, passed away peacefully with her family virtually present at IU Health Bloomington Hospital on Wednesday (April 1, 2020). Mary was born to Francis L. “Bud” and Emma Marie (Koester) Fischer in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Due to the current pandemic, restricted private viewing and graveside services will take place on Saturday, April 4. Arrangements will be handled by Lester Jenkins & Sons Funeral Home, Bloomfield, with burial in Grandview Cemetery. A memorial gathering will take place at a later date once circumstances make that possible.
Mary is survived by her husband, Major Samuel R. Lehman, USAF Retired. Mary was a 1954 graduate of Indiana State University, where she met and married Sam to enjoy 66 years of marriage.
Other survivors include her children and their spouses, Michael (Maiko) Lehman, David (Cheryl) Lehman, Susan (Chris) Lee, and Gregory (Teresa) Lehman.
Grand- and great-grandchildren and spouses include Angela (Jeremy) Inman (Brenden, Jarrett, Hayden, and Jaxsen); Jessica (Shawn) Cullison (Hunter, Weston, and Colton); Kathryn Michelle Lehman & Kyle Stallings; Manda (Cass) Smith-Collins; Nathan Lee & Caroline Hyatt (Josephine); and Alex Lee & John Musichuk.
Other survivors include her sister-in-law, Margaret (James B) Fischer, and Phyllis (Lehman) & Bill White and close nephew's Robert (Elizabeth) and Steven (Cindy) White families along with numerous other nieces and nephews; and great nieces and great nephews.
Mary was preceded in death by parents Francis L. and Emma Marie (Koester) Fischer, brothers Robert J (Marilyn) Fischer and James B Fischer, and sister Rose Marie (Richard) Nixon. Also, grandson Wesley David Lehman, niece Lu Ann Porter, brother-in-law Billie Joe Lehman, and nephew Matt Lehman.
Mary trained as an elementary teacher and then substitute taught in a parochial school in Texas. Mary was a CASA volunteer in Greene County. Best of all, Mary was a homemaker and a mother to a family which traveled the world as Sam undertook assignments to secret schools in Wyoming and California, waited in Terre Haute to give birth to Mike while Sam was in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, then to Dayton, Ohio; the Panama Canal Zone; Phoenix, Arizona; Randolph AFB, Texas: Mesa, Arizona; back to Randolph; a brief stint near home in Bloomington while Sam earned his MBA at Indiana University; assignments at Headquarters USAFE in Wiesbaden and Ramstein (Sembach), West Germany, and back to Chanute AFB, Rantoul, Illinois. After Sam retired from the Air Force, he and Mary lived just south of Bloomfield for three decades doing house restoration, rental and sales, before settling again in Bloomington. Mary and Sam remained adventuresome travelers until they just couldn’t anymore.
Mary was a devout Catholic, with extended terms attending church at St. Patrick’s, Terre Haute, Indiana; St. Monica’s, Converse, Texas; Holy Name of Jesus, Bloomfield; and in retirement St. John’s the Apostle, Ellettsville, Indiana.
Memorials to Mary’s memory can best be made by doing some kindness to aid first responders and healthcare workers on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic and keeping them in your prayers.
