Thelma Marie Lehman, age 99, of Stryker, Ohio passed away on Thursday, August 19, 2021 after many loving visits from family.
Thelma was born on March 31, 1922 in rural Stryker, the daughter of Fred and Mary (Valentine) Norris. Thelma graduated from Stryker High School in 1940.
She married her grade school crush, Charles “Chuck” Lehman, who preceded her in death in 2012. On her last days, her family prayed for her husband “Papa”, a WWII pilot, to come for her to fly her to Heaven.
Thelma began married life as a military wife with Chuck enlisted in the Army Air Corps. The couple lived for a short time in Waco, Texas before returning to Stryker.
Chuck and Thelma were blessed with many opportunities to enjoy their interests in nearly 70 years of marriage, especially attending activities involving their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. They were faithful members of First Lutheran Church in Stryker.
Thelma was an avid basketball fan, and she enjoyed attending basketball games as well as watching basketball on television. She was also a talented crafter, who enjoyed sewing, knitting, crocheting, and traditional rug hooking.
She was a charter member of the Northwest Ohio Rug Hookcrafters Guild. Thelma worked for many years at Sauder Village, where she enjoyed meeting people and sewing doll clothes on a treadle sewing machine. Thelma was made an honorary member of the Stryker Rotary.
In addition to her family, Thelma was lovingly supported in her later years by her church family and her special neighbors, Gary and Linda Sullivan, members of her rug crafters group, and the care team at Fairlawn. Surviving Thelma are daughters Lynne (John) Miller of Bryan and Josie (Jeff) Lodermeier of Norwalk, Ohio; son-in-law, William (Bill) Beucler of Chesterland, Ohio; ten grandchildren, Suzanne (Tom) Fortuna, Doug (Heidi) Miller, Mike (Kristy) Beucler, Dave (Lisa) Miller, Amy (Barry) Johns, Mark (Sara) Beucler, Anne (Andy) McCarty, Brian (Linnea) Lodermeier, Bethany (Cody) Koch, Kyle (Janelle) Lodermeier; 26 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandson. Also surviving are sister-in-law, Connie Cowling of New Bern, NC; and many nieces and nephews.
In addition to her parents and husband, Thelma was preceded in death by siblings, Edward Norris, Elsie Meyer, Arlene Parks; infant son, Charles F. Lehman, Jr.; and daughter, Lana (Lehman) Beucler.
All services will be private at Grisier Funeral Homes. Burial will take place at the Oakwood Cemetery in Stryker.
In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests that memorial contributions be made either to the First Lutheran Church in Stryker or Sauder Village.
Online condolences may be offered to the family at www.grisierfh.com. The Grisier Funeral Home of Stryker is honored to serve the Lehman family.