Elizabeth Lehman, 102, former Girl Scout executive

Elizabeth W. Lehman
Elizabeth W. Lehman
Posted: June 09, 2012

Elizabeth Walters Lehman, 102, a former Girl Scout executive and wife of a Saturday Evening Post senior editor, died of complications of anemia Friday, May 25, at Kendal at Granville, an assisted-living residence in Granville, Ohio.

Mrs. Lehman, who grew up in Altoona, Pa., and Narberth, was a descendant of John Ulrich Bergey, who helped found a Mennonite settlement in 1728 in Lower Salford, Montgomery County.

She studied art at Livingston Academy in Washington and attended what is now Drexel University before working for Lerner Shops in Philadelphia.

In 1942, she married Richard Long Lehman. While he pursued a career at the Saturday Evening Post in Philadelphia, she raised three children in Havertown, volunteered with the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, and was a Girl Scout leader.

When the Post's offices moved to New York City in 1963, she and her husband moved to Edison, N.J., where she remained active with the Girl Scouts.

In 1967, she became president of the Crossroads Girl Scout Council in Edison. Later she was business manager for seven years of what is now the Girl Scouts of Central and Southern New Jersey. When she retired in 1978, she received a United Way award for 21 years in scouting.

Mrs. Lehman and her husband lived in retirement in Vero Beach, Fla. He died in 1994 and in 2006 she moved to Ohio to be close to family.

She was an accomplished water colorist and knitted hundreds of sweaters for needy children, her daughter Carol Rizzoli said.

In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Lehman is survived by a son, Richard; a daughter, Linda Habig; five grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

A memorial service was private.

Contact Sally A. Downey at 215-854-2913 or sdowney@phillynews.com.

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