Charles Arthur "Chuck" Lehman

1934 - 2025

Spokane Valley, WA - Col. Charles Arthur Lehman (retired) passed away peacefully in the Spokane Valley on August 4, 2025 after a long illness. He was 91 years old.

He was preceded into heaven by his wife of 68 years, Marian, and is survived and remembered by their three children - Deyonne Marie, Gregory Charles and Susan Kaye - six grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

Chuck was born on April 4, 1934, in Faribault, Minnesota to Arthur and Elsie Lehman. Arthur died when Chuck was 14. Elsie was later re-married to Rev. Arthur L. Rustad. As a boy he learned to love hunting, shooting and the great outdoors, and would look up into the sky and long to fly.

He graduated from St. Olaf College (MN), where he met his future wife, Marian Janice Amundson, with a degree in Physics in 1956. He joined the Air Force and was accepted into pilot training. He and Marian made a career of the USAF, where Chuck realized his childhood dream and flew over a dozen aircraft, most notably the F-102 and F-106.

When his flying days came to an end, he continued as a safety officer commanding two military survival schools in Okinawa and Spokane, became head of the ROTC program at South Dakota State University and finished his career in England with three years as the base commander of RAF Alconbury, 1982-1985.

Throughout his military career, he and Marian made the most of every location - traveling to 64 countries, hiking, camping and exploring. While commanding the U.S. Air Force's Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) school at Fairchild AFB in Spokane, While elk hunting in Montana, Chuck fell in love with a piece of private property for sale in the Kootenai National Forest. In 1978 the whole family, with other family and friends, began construction on a two-story natural log cabin that continues to serve as a place of retreat and peace.

That cabin was built through Chuck's ever-present positive attitude, mechanical genius and "how hard can it be" ethic. No repairman ever visited a Lehman house. He was incredibly loving, tender and gentle, often tearing up during family prayer at the dinner table or while telling stories. All this will be incredibly missed until we see him again in heaven.

There will be a private family service for Charles (Chuck) Lehman at the Washington State Veterans Cemetery in Medical Lake followed by a public memorial service at First Presbyterian Church in Spokane, Sept. 22 at 3p.