Leta Jean Ehrman

Funeral services for Leta Jean Ehrman, 95, Lawrence, Kansas, will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, November 21, 2022 at Warren-McElwain Mortuary in Lawrence.  Burial will follow at Memorial Park Cemetery. 

Leta passed away on Monday, November 14, 2022 at KentRidge Senior Living in Kent, Ohio, where she had moved to be near her son Radd and daughter-in-law Cynthia in 2017, after spending five years at Brandon Woods in Lawrence.

Leta was born on April 15, 1927 in Burlington, KS, the daughter of Henry and Reatha M. (Thorne) Ramsdell.  She was an honors student throughout her school years and earned a scholarship to Kansas University, where she enrolled in 1945.  Within a year she met her future husband Richard, who always referred to her with her high school nickname “Hank” (after her father Henry).  Her children did not realize that Hank was not a woman’s name until they became adults.

Leta lived in Lawrence for 70 years, from 1945-1957 and 1965-2017; the intervening eight years were spent in Fremont, Nebraska.  After college she began her career as a secretary at the Mosser-Wolf film company, Centron, in Lawrence; after the family’s move to Nebraska she became the secretary to the publisher of the Fremont Guide and Tribune.  When they returned to Lawrence she became the administrative assistant to the Director of the Student Union at the University of Kansas until her retirement in May, 1983.

Leta married Richard L. Ehrman on January 16, 1949 in Burlington, KS.  Together they enjoyed an active life of golf, fishing, gardening, and traveling.  He preceded her in death on October 23, 1989, after which she continued to pursue her many interests, including garden, reading, knitting, bridge, and investment clubs.  Throughout her adult life she was deeply involved in the church, for many years serving on the altar guild at Trinity Episcopal church; later she was active in the Lawrence Bible Chapel and then in the Free Methodist Church (River City Church).  She was also actively engaged in charity work in the community and supported missionary work, especially in Ireland and Kenya.

Leta is survived by her three children: Radd K. Ehrman (Cynthia), Kent, Ohio; Bart D. Ehrman (Sarah Beckwith), Durham, North Carolina; Kerry L. Yearwood (Kevin), Redding, California; by nine grandchildren, Kelly J. Ehrman, Peterborough, New Hampshire; Derek B. Ehrman, Raleigh, North Carolina; Crystalyn Brown, Dayton Ohio; Victoria Weller, Davis, California; Stephanie Brown, Citrus Heights, California; Kimberly Brown, Boston, Massachusetts; Julie Bruce, Kent, Ohio; Kaylie Ehrman, Kent Ohio; and Miles Ehrman, Kent, Ohio; and by eleven great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents and sister, Donna Jo Myers.

The family suggests memorials in Leta’s name be given to Habitat for Humanity; these may be sent in care of Warren-McElwain Mortuary, 120 W. 13^th Street, Lawrence, KS 66044.