Marsha K. Lehmer

Marsha Kay Lehmer passed away with her family by her side in Oakland, California on November 23rd, 2020 at the age of 84 of a pulmonary embolism. She was born September 28th, 1936 in Salt Lake City to Samuel and Kathryn Watson and grew up there along with her older sister Joan, also deceased.

Marsha lived a full life surrounded by the love she created. After her formative years in Salt Lake City, she brought an infusion of her strong mid-western values and passion for knowledge to San Francisco where she lived with her mother. She attended Galileo High School where she met many of her lifelong friends. She then commuted from the City to the University of California, Berkeley where she studied history and graduated in 1958 after expanding her sphere of lifelong friends. It was while working at the University’s Radio/TV club that she met and fell in love with Donald Eugene Lehmer, who had graduated from Cal in 1956 with an Electrical Engineering degree and was volunteering at the club, supporting its studio operations.

After graduating from Cal, Marsha worked as a teacher at Horace Mann School in San Francisco and married Don in June of 1962. They immediately moved into the beautiful house in the Berkeley Hills that has been their home for 58 years. Marsha left teaching after becoming pregnant with their first son, Ronald in 1963. She became a homemaker for some time after that, giving birth to their second son, Eric, in 1967, just days after her mother passed away. In the mid-1970’s, after concentrating on creating a wonderful home life for her family for several years, Marsha returned to school for a certificate in Library Science and worked as a substitute librarian at both King Junior High School and Berkeley High School.

Marsha loved tradition and holidays. She was the most fantastic hostess at family gatherings. Being a marvelous cook, her Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners were truly feasts. Indeed, her favorite holiday was Christmas where she would deck out the vaulted ceiling living room with a twelve foot tree and there would be so many gifts that they would overflow from under the tree and encompass the baby grand piano and beyond. She carried this tradition on through her sons’ childhood right through to her grandchildren. The holidays will never be the same without her glowing presence.

Marsha was a wonderful influence on both her children and grandchildren. She encouraged them all to grow and be curious about the world around them. She valued acquiring knowledge highly and passed that desire onto her children and grandchildren, which were her true passion. She fostered interests that they expressed and gently guided them to fully explore those
interests without dictating what those interests should be. Without her we would not be the people we are today.

Marsha had many interests that kept her mind sharp and engaged throughout her life. She loved books and maps, history, architecture, and gardening. Besides taking that passion for books and turning it into a career as a librarian, she amassed quite a collection of rare and first edition books. Her favorite authors were Jane Austen and Agatha Christie and seemed to own at least one edition of each of their books.  Her great love of libraries and books has definitely been passed on to her sons and grandchildren.

Her love of history was channeled into a long term project to create a family history of her parents’ families. She loved examining ancestral records on the Internet and was just completing the final draft of her family history when she passed. She also cherished local architectural history – she was a long time member of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association, or BAHA. She was absolutely thrilled when a lifelong dream was realized in 2018 with inclusion of the family home on the annual BAHA walking tour.

Her love of gardening culminated in the creation of a wonderful garden that was especially vivid with the turning of the leaves in the autumn which was her favorite season. She always had new plans for bringing new life into her garden.

Marsha also enjoyed old movies, murder mysteries, knitting, and all things Disney! She amassed quite a collection of Disney memorabilia and loved the idyllic atmosphere created at Disneyland. Most vacations with her family and then with her childrens’ families were spent at the Happiest Place on Earth, and we will all remember it as the happiest of times.

As the years went by and the generation before her aged she helped care for her uncle-in-law, Mark Ross, and her mother-in-law, Emma Lehmer, as they became less and less capable. Her unswerving devotion to her family helped ease the difficulties of their declining years.

In 2003 we almost lost Marsha to a bacterial meningitis infection resulting from a fall. After several harrowing days in the intensive care unit we knew she would return to us when she came out of her coma and asked us to pop down to the cafe and get her a Coca-Cola! After her miraculous recovery, she had an even greater appreciation for life even as her physical capabilities started to decline.

As her physical health continued to decline, her efforts focused on keeping her home in order, organizing the myriad of doctors’ visits for Don and herself, and concentrating on keeping her book and media collections organized or working on her family histories. Fortunately, she always had at least one of her sons close at hand to help with the more demanding physical tasks.

Above all else, she devoted her entire existence to loving her family, giving her sons and grandchildren every opportunity to grow and succeed, and built a legacy that continues to flow through all of us. She will be cherished and remembered forever by her family and friends.

Marsha is preceded by her parents Samuel and Kathryn, sister Joan, and grandson Derrick. She is survived by her husband Donald; her sons Ronald, and Eric; their spouses Ana and Brooke; and her grandchildren Andrew, William, Kimberly and Elizabeth.

For those sending flowers, please arrange for them to be delivered to Sunset View Mortuary no later than 9AM Friday, December 4th, 2020. In lieu of flowers, a donation in Marsha Lehmer’s
name may be made to the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association.