Elizabeth "Ann" Lieder

1930 - 2024

News story
By Mike Sigov
Blade Staff Writer

Elizabeth "Ann" Lieder, a longtime Toledo-area elementary teacher and community volunteer, died Oct. 4 at Hospice of Northwest Ohio, South Detroit Avenue. She was 93.

She died after a bout with a heart infection, said her daughter Laura Rombalski.

Mrs. Lieder retired in the late 1990s after nearly 30 years of teaching, mostly at Toledo Public Schools' Spring Elementary and Reynolds Elementary.

She also taught primary grades at Maumee Valley Country Day School in the 1970s.

"She was a very strong-willed teacher," Mrs. Rombalski said. "She wanted everyone to try hard to do their best and succeed. She had high expectations of her students. And she was strict with us [her daughters] too."

Mrs. Rombalski's sister, Lynn Lieder, agreed with that description.

"She was [also] passionate about learning, and she loved history," Ms. Lieder said.

In retirement, Mrs. Lieder read a lot, especially about British royalty and distinguished American women such Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Elizabeth Taylor. She also took road scholar trips, Ms. Lieder said.

Earlier in her life, when her daughters were school age, Mrs. Lieder volunteered as a Girl Scout leader. Later in her life, she volunteered for at least 10 years as a presenter at Wood County elementary schools through Prevention Partners of Wood County, talking to elementary-school age students about drug and alcohol addiction.

Born Dec. 28, 1930, in Cincinnati to Thelma and Charles Reichle, Jr., she graduated from Withrow High School in Cincinnati in 1949.

Mrs. Lieder then continued her education at the University of Cincinnati School of Design, where she graduated in 1954 with a bachelor's degree in applied arts. She later earned a master's degree in education from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

In 1955, she married William Donald "Don" Lieder. He was a chemical engineer long employed at Sunoco and its east-side refinery and a public speaker on energy and the environment. He died in 2021.

Mrs. Lieder moved to the Toledo area in 1969, when her husband was transferred from Sun Oil in Philadelphia to its refinery on the East Toledo-Oregon border.

"It was the best thing that happened to us. Toledo was booming," Mrs. Lieder told The Blade when her husband died. "He loved the zoo and the art museum and the Metroparks. We were 50-year season subscribers with the symphony."

The family first settled in Toledo and a few years later moved to Perrysburg.

Along with reading and traveling, in her free time, Mrs. Lieder enjoyed gardening, exploring metro parks, visiting art museums, and attending symphony concerts. She was also an ardent National Collegiate Athletics Association basketball fan

Mrs. Lieder was a member of Zoar Lutheran Church in Perrysburg.

Her other memberships included Phi Delta Kappa International, the Alpha Chi Omega sorority, the Toledo Museum of Art, and Toledo Symphony.

She was preceded in death by her brothers, Charles Reichle III, and Philp Reichle.

Surviving are her daughters, Lynn Lieder and Laura Rombalski; five grandchildren; and a great-grandson.

Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Oct. 25 at Witzler-Shank-Walker Funeral Home, Perrysburg. Visitation will then resume at 10 a.m. Oct. 26 at Zoar Lutheran Church, where a funeral service will immediately follow at 11 a.m.

The family suggests tributes to Toledo Symphony, Metroparks Toledo, or the church.