Ralph Lehman
1922 - 2019
Obituary
Ralph Sanford Lehman was born on Nov.
15, 1922, to Samuel and Clara Kennel Lehman in Beaver Falls, New
York, the second child of 13. Though his ancestors were Amish, his
parents were members of the Amish Mennonite church of Croghan, New
York. Ralph graduated from high school in Lowville, New York, and
then helped his father on the farm and in the woods making maple
syrup for one year.
He went to Goshen College in Indiana,
and in his junior year he was drafted, served as a conscientious
objector in Civilian Public Service, first at Dennison, Iowa, then at
Poughkeepsie, New York, and Grottos, Virginia. At the Hudson River
State Hospital mental ward in Poughkeepsie, Ralph, along with others
in the CPS unit, exposed institutionalized abuse of patients. Reforms
in mental health treatment followed with the support of Eleanor
Roosevelt.
After CPS, he attended Bethel College
in North Newton, graduating in 1948. There, he met his love, Evelyn
Goering, and after teaching one year in Churchville High School near
Rochester, New York, he returned to Kansas. He and Evelyn were
married June 30. 1949. They were recruited by MCC and served as unit
leaders at Topeka State Hospital and the Menninger Clinic for one
year.
Ralph applied to Denver University to
pursue graduate studies in Social Work. He graduated there in 1951
with a master's degree in Social Work, psychiatric sequence, and in
administration. Both their sons, Joseph Michael and Ralph Stephen
were born in Denver, where Ralph's first job was at General Rose
Memorial Hospital.
Ralph was offered a job at Portsmouth,
Ohio, a new psychiatric receiving hospital where they lived until he
was offered a job at Boy's Village as Clinical Director in
Smithville, Ohio. There, their daughter, Christine, was born. Later,
they moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he had been offered the
position of Clinical Director at Fort Wayne Children's Home. Later he
was offered a position at the Summit County Family and Children's
Services in Akron, Ohio, where he served as director of Care
Services. Their daughter, Mary Jolene, was born during this time.
After seven years there, he applied for
the position of CEO at Edgewood Children's Center in St. Louis. The
family moved there and he remained in that position for 21 years,
transforming the facility to an expanded, model treatment center.
Various awards were given to Ralph throughout these years of
employment. In 1987, he was invited to serve on the board of the
Child Welfare League of America, which he did for six years. In 1988,
he was named Social Worker of the Year for the state of Missouri, and
then Outstanding Leader of the United Way of St. Louis in 1988.
Throughout their retirement, Ralph and
Evelyn traveled to Europe three times, to South America, on a Panama
cruise and Ralph went to India with family members.
Several siblings and Ralph formed
Samara Partners, continuing to make maple syrup in New York, which
the second generation are continuing to do. The family retired to
Newton in 1992, where both Ralph and Evelyn volunteered at various
places, and continued to enjoy family and friends.
Ralph is survived by his wife of 70
years, Evelyn; sons, Michael (Kathleen) and Stephen (Kathy Childers);
daughters, Christine (Richard Tilles) and Mary; eight grandchildren;
nine great-grandchildren; three brothers, Lyle, Jim and Gary; four
sisters: Claramae, Bernice, Dolores and Jane; and a host of nieces,
nephews and friends.
A memorial service will be announced in
late December at Bethel College Mennonite Church.
