Elizabeth Lehman

***PER FAMILY REQUEST PLEASE DISREGARD ANY SYMPATHY GIFT OR CARD OPTION ABOVE***

Elizabeth Lehman, 102, a former executive for the Girl Scouts of the USA, died on May 25, 2012, at Kendal of Granville, in central Ohio. She had lived at Kendal for seven years, near her daughter and son-in-law, Linda and Bill Habig, of Granville.

Born in Altoona, PA, Ellen Elizabeth Walters Lehman traced her ancestry to early Pennsylvania settler John Ulrich Bergey, from Switzerland, who donated a hundred acres of his farmland in 1728 to help found a Mennonite congregation in Lower Salford, Montgomery County. Mrs. Lehman and her family were long-time residents of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. She studied art at the Livingston Academy, in Washington, D.C., and attended the Drexel Institute of Technology, Philadelphia, before beginning a career in women's fashion retailing.

Following her marriage to Richard Long Lehman, a senior editor for The Saturday Evening Post, she devoted herself to raising their three children and to volunteer work for the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, her church, and the Girl Scouts. Thereafter she worked her way up to business manager for the Delaware-Raritan Girl Scout Council of New Jersey, where she oversaw operations including land acquisition for camps and the cookie sales business.

Mrs. Lehman spent later years in Vero Beach, FL. As an energetic member of Community Church in Vero Beach, Mrs. Lehman knitted hundreds of children's sweaters for the Oxfam and Guideposts projects, managed a Bible study group, organized the delivery of flowers from the church to hospitals and shut-ins, and participated in many other church outreach projects. She also pursued a lifelong passion for watercolor painting, winning many local awards in Florida. Her husband died there in 1994 after a marriage of 50 years.

Survivors include daughters Linda Habig (Granville, OH), Carol Rizzoli (Royal Oak, MD) and a son, Richard Lehman (Princeton, NJ), along with five grandchildren, and two great grandchildren.

Arrangements are in the care of McPeek-Hoekstra Funeral Home, Granville, OH. Online condolences may be expressed at www.mcpeekhoekstra.com . A private memorial service will be held in early June at the home of her daughter in Maryland. Memorial contributions may be made to Foundation for Hospice of Central Ohio, P.O. Box 430, Newark, OH 43058