The Marilyn (Baker) Lehman Elementary Education Scholarship

I was born on April 20, 1935 in Albany, Oregon to my parents, Bob & Valera Baker. My dad was a school teacher and book-keeper.  My mother was a home-maker who also worked at the Mennonite Home in the kitchen and laundry. I have two sisters, Sharon & Roberta and a brother Mike, all of whom were teachers.

At a young age I attended Albany Mennonite Church where I was baptized and developed my faith and community belonging. I started teaching Sunday School to young children already when I was a teenager. I attended one room grade school at Clover-Ridge near our home and for junior high school, I attended Central School in Albany where my Dad taught Math.

For my high school years, I attended Albany High School where I graduated in 1952. The next year I went to Goshen College, taking the train all the way from Oregon to Indiana by myself. I decided to major in Elementary Education under the able leadership of Professors Royer and Nafziger. I stayed out one year to teach grades 1-4 at Harris School in order to pay for my senior year at Goshen. I then returned to Goshen College and graduated in 1958.

I taught first and second grade at Willow Glen School for 30 years in San Jose, Calif. I retired in 1988 and moved to Roseburg, Oregon with my first husband LeRoy Leppke. After his death in 1999 I lived alone for 1 1/2 years until I met a former classmate from Goshen College, Louie Lehman. We were married 2001 and lived in Roseburg for six more years. We then moved to Albany due to my mother’s health condition. After she passed away we bought a house near the Mennonite Village and lived there for 21 years until we moved to “Quail Run” the Assisted Living Facility at the Mennonite Village.

Marilyn C. Lehman, July 2021