Susan C. Lehrich

Susan (nee Katz) Lehrich, died on December 26, 2024 at age 83. Susan was born January 30, 1941 in High Point, North Carolina and raised in Allentown, PA by her beloved parents Morris and Francis Katz, of blessed memory. Susan graduated from Allen High School in 1958 and earned her bachelor's degree in speech pathology from Bloomsburg University in 1962. Susan met Henry Lehrich at Muhlenberg College in 1959, where she was initially enrolled before transferring to Bloomsburg. Susan and Henry married in 1962 and ventured to San Fransisco, CA where Henry completed his medical residency and she worked as a speech therapist for schools in Napa and Sonoma Counties. In 1965, they returned to Allentown to be close to family and raise a family of their own. After raising her children, Susan returned to Kutztown University and earned her Master's Degree in Counseling in 1983. She became a licensed psychologist and built a successful private counseling practice in Allentown that operated for nearly 30 years. She was loved and admired by her patients, and she treasured her network of friends and colleagues in the Lehigh Valley psychology community. Susan was very engaged in the Lehigh Valley community at every stage of her life. As a young mother, she pursued her passion for theater as an actress with the Guthsville Playhouse and the Civic Little Theater, playing roles in numerous productions in the 1960s and 1970s. She also served as a volunteer, teacher and Sisterhood President for Congregation Keneseth Israel in the 1970s and 1980s, and she cherished her KI friends and community. Susan was active in helping to resettle Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union to the Lehigh Valley in the 1980s. Susan was also active in the Lehigh Valley Psychological & Counseling Association, having served as LVPCA president in 1999. Susan also had a passion for collecting Pennsylvania Dutch quilts which she admired for both their beauty and imperfection. Susan and Henry were the consummate hosts, entertaining their friends and their children's friends with an "all-comers are welcome" attitude. Susan had an infectious laugh, was a poetic letter writer and she was a deeply caring human. Susan was a marvelous loving wife, mother, grandmother, daughter and aunt – always providing love and support, especially at the most perilous times in her family's life. Susan died peacefully at her home, surrounded by her family, from complications of Parkinson's disease. Susan is survived by Henry, her husband of 62 years, daughter Deborah Lehrich, M.D., sons Thomas (Debbie) Lehrich and Darren (Ellen) Lehrich, grandchildren Mayim, Samuel, Talya, Jonathan, Caileen, Fabian, Maxwell, Jed, and brother Michael Katz. Funeral services will be held on Friday, December 27, 2024, at 12 pm at Congregation Keneseth Israel, 2227 W. Chew Street, Allentown, PA, 18104 and livestreamed via https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxxHAc4H7YH_RgAHTZOj8yw. Interment in Keneseth Israel Cemetery. Arrangements by Bachman, Kulik & Reinsmith Funeral Home, Allentown. Memorial contributions may be made to Congregation Keneseth Israel https://www.kilv.org/donations.html. Online condolences may be made to the family at https://www.bachmankulikreinsmith.com/. To plant Memorial Trees in memory of Susan C. Lehrich, please click here to visit our Sympathy Store.