Minnesota’s Roger Lehne, retired educator, becomes a casualty of the coronavirus.

The coronavirus pandemic has claimed the lives of several beloved educators. One of these is Roger Lehne, a retired teacher and US Navy veteran from Fargo, North Dakota.

Roger was born on March 26, 1927. He was raised in Audubon, Minnesota. In the closing months of World War II, Roger enlisted in the US Navy. He was only 17 years old. While in the service, Roger served as a medic.

When the war was over, the veteran attended what is now Minnesota State University at Moorhead. He also enrolled at the University of North Dakota, where he completed the requirements for his Master’s degree.

In 1954, Roger inaugurated his career as an educator at Waubun, Minnesota.. In 1966 he transferred to Mahnomen High School. Eventually he was named Vice Principal at Mahnomenl. “Everyone could go to him with problems,” remembered his niece, Julie LaVoy. “He was very beloved.” The respected educator retired in 1984.

It was at the Mahnomen where he met Teresa London, a local elementary school teacher. The couple married on May 31, 1958. Roger and Teresa made their home in Mahnomen, until recent years when they moved to Fargo. Teresa, now age 84, survives her husband.

Sadly, this chalkboard champion passed away on his birthday, March 26, 2020, at the Veterans’ Administration Hospital in Fargo, a casualty of the coronavirus. He was 93 years old. To read more about him, see this obituary published by the Grand Forks Herald.