Ted Lehman - 1921 - 2019

It’s been a beautiful life for Ted Lehman: not without hardships, but rooted in faith, family and community.
Ted passed away at 98 on August 27, 2019, at Hillside Manor in McMinnville, Oregon, three years after his beloved wife, Doris; he was surrounded by their loving children. He had also just received embraces from many Hillside staff members for, despite a long battle with dementia, his jovial personality continued to shine through.
A celebration of Ted’s life is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Saturday, September 28, at McMinnville Covenant Church.
Born April 16, 1921, outside Monmouth, Oregon, Theodore William Lehman grew up on the family farm, a time when horses still pulled plows. A bright student, he became the first in his family to attend college, earning a business administration degree from Linfield.
But school initially had to wait as Ted served in World War II. A quartermaster in the U.S. Army under General George Patton, he participated in the historic 1944 Allied invasion of Normandy, France, landing under mortar fire just after Omaha Beach had been secured. He continued through the Battle of the Bulge and all the way to Germany.
Doris wrote him every day they were apart, and the couple wed on June 1, 1946, after Ted’s return. Married for 70 years, they would have four children. One, Ronald, was lost early to sudden infant death syndrome. But Ted is survived by the other three, Shirley Libby, Allan Lehman and Barbara von Behren, as well as by their spouses, Donald Libby, Elizabeth von Behren, Jon von Behren and Russ Schoof; six grandchildren, Brian Libby, Rebecca Lehman, Sara LaPietra, Christa von Behren, Anna Enck and Allison Parker; and four great-grandchildren.
Ted spent his career at Oregon Mutual Insurance, rising to company treasurer. Yet he never forgot his family’s business, Lehman Farms, relocated outside Amity after being displaced by the construction of Camp Adair during the war, working there twice a week into his 90s.
A member of Amity Baptist, then First Baptist and later Bethel Baptist Church, Ted Lehman often visited nursing homes to read residents Bible passages. He is remembered as a man whose Christian faith fueled his selflessness, humility and good cheer.
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