Kenneth J. Lehman

Service Details

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, September 3, 2022.  A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11:00 a.m. at St. Mary Catholic Church, 7300-39^th Ave.  A visitation for Ken will take place on Saturday at the church from 9:30 a.m. until the time of the Mass.  Private interment will take place in St. George Cemetery.

 

Memorial Suggestions

In lieu of flowers, memorial remembrances to either the UW Foundation, US Bank Lockbox, Box 78807 Milwaukee, WI, 53278-0807 ( www.support uw.org/giveto/SVM CAF) to be used for the veterinary clinic,  or St. Mary Catholic Church, 7307 40th Ave., Kenosha, WI 53142 would be appreciated.

Kenneth J. Lehman, age 93, of Pleasant Prairie, passed away peacefully at his home on August 16, 2022.

A lifelong Kenosha resident, Ken was born on August 19, 1929 a son of the late John “Jack” G. and Inez O. (nee: Blaim) Lehman.

Ken was born in the depression era and worked many jobs as a child to earn money for the family.  Some included having two paper delivery routes and working at the pharmacy making malts and shakes.

His father, Jack, was a contractor building single family homes on the southside of Kenosha.  Ken spent several years building homes with his dad and was a union member and went through the apprentice program.

Ken went to UW Madison where he graduated with a business degree.  He was also in the ROTC program.  This is where he met the love of his life, Priscilla, on a blind date.  They were married in 1954 in Priscilla’s hometown of Mayville, IL.

After college, Ken spent three years in the US Army as a 1st Lieutenant.  He served as an aide to a senior officer in the Corps of Engineers division.

Ken’s main occupation was working for SC Johnson Wax in Racine.  He worked his way up through the ranks where his final position was being in charge of worldwide production and distribution and ran the Waxdale production facility in Racine.  As a member of upper management, he was invited to participate in a world summit meeting in Buenos Aires in 1977.  This meeting was organized by Johnson Wax and had corporate executives meeting with leaders from countries around the world.  Each Johnson Wax employee would be paired with a world leader and had to address a corporate/political challenge for Johnson Wax to excel in the merging global market.  Ken’s partner for two days was Henry Kissinger and they worked closely together to give a presentation at the final day of the five-day meetings.

He greatly loved his four boys.  He would drop them off at 6:30 a.m. at Muni Golf Course where they played 27 holes of golf before Priscilla picked them up in the afternoon.  There were many yearly summer trips to Fence Lake in Vilas County, WI.

Local outings included driving to Armstrong Park in Racine which was privately owned by Johnson Wax.  There the family would play golf and go turtle hunting on the Root River that went through the park.

Ken loved his sports on TV with his family, especially the Badgers, Packers, Cubs, and even the Brewers in his later years.  His greatest memory was attending game 6 of the 1945 world series games with his father.  The Cubs won by a score of 8-7.  Ken was an outstanding overall athlete, but the two sports he excelled at were basketball and golf.  He played basketball at the KYF in Kenosha and was the point guard on the team that played in the famed Milwaukee Industrial League in the late 40’s.  He tried out for the Badgers, but unfortunately, a knee injury prior to tryouts kept him from fulfilling his dream.  His other love was golf.  He played mostly at Maplecrest Country Club where he had many golfing buddies.  Over his career he had five holes in one, with the most notable being the first hole in one in the Kenosha News County Open.  His most cherished achievement was when he “beat his age”. He shot a 78 in 2008.

Ken and Priscilla had many friends in Sarasota, FL where they had a condo in Rolling Green which was located on the golf course.  They spent 35 years there in the winter months.  With Ken’s carpentry and handyman skills, he would do many odd jobs for their neighbors in the complex.

One of Ken’s childhood friends was State Senator Joe Andrea.  He and Joe were very close and graduated the same year from Bradford H.S.  Joe had organized his own breakfast club and they met the 1^st Friday of each month at a local restaurant.  Members were from the class of 1946.  Joe passed away several years ago and Ken was elected to fill Joes shoes and chair the meetings.  Ken will be sadly missed by those members.

In 1971, the family moved to the River Oaks subdivision in Pleasant Prairie and purchased the first home built.  For the next 50 years Ken would walk around the subdivision and personally greet each new resident into the community.  He offered his help and told them to stop by with any questions.  He quickly became known as the “mayor” of River Oaks and he and Priscilla would be in the lead car of the annual fourth of July parade.

Ken will be sadly missed by his sons, John Vincent Lehman of Three Lakes, WI, and James P. (Kathleen) Lehman DDS, of Libertyville, IL; his grandchildren which include Patrick (Mindy) Lehman MD, Rebecca (Paul) Thibaudeau DDS, Kirsten (Michael) Telwak and Lauren (Matt) Mesko; twelve great grandchildren; his brother and sister in law, Roger and Judy Lehman of Greendale, WI, and their children, Brett and Dawn Lehman of Waterford, and Todd and Kristen Lehman of Franklin.

Along with his parents, Ken was preceded in death by his cherished wife Priscilla, and his sons Jay R. Lehman and Jeffrey D. Lehman.