BILL LEHMBERG

 The following bio was taken from page 284 of the book entitled “Rusk County History” compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

 Transcribed by Shirley Koym

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Cemeteries of Texas

We Lehmberg’s were not born in East Texas but got here as soon as we could.  Sibyl was born in Crossett, Arkansas, and I was born in Floresville, Texas.  We both graduated from Brownwood High School and attended Tarleton State College for two years.  Sibyl went on to get her degree from Texas Woman’s University, and I got my degrees from Texas A&M.  We married in Brownwood in May 1943, and I spent the next three and a half years in the military – the last year with the Third Army in the European Theater. 

 After the war, I was employed with the Texas Agricultural Extension Service and served as County Extension Agent and District Agent for thirty-four years.  I retired at the Texas A&M Research and Extension Center in Overton in August 1980 and am presently associated with Bob Kelley Real Estate in Henderson.

 Sibyl taught school off and on during our stay in Anson, Vernon, and Weslaco.  It was our good fortune to make many good friends in the various places.

 We have two daughters.  Carola married Robert Roach, and they have two sons, Scott and Mark, who make their home in Austin.  Cindy married Stewart Rogers, Jr., and they have two daughters, Carolynn and Christy.  They live in Tulsa.

 My maternal great grandparents were August Rabke, Sr. and Henrietta Thieme Rabke, and my grandparents were August Rabke, Jr. and Emma Bucholz of the Pedernales Community near Fredericksburg, Texas.  The homestead has been in the family for more than one hundred years.  In recognition of this, a ceremony by the Texas Land Heritage program was held at the Institute of Cultures in San Antonio in 1977.

 August, Jr. was one of the early teamsters of that area and made many trips with oxen.  He supplied grain to the garrison at Fort Concho near San Angelo.  At the time of his death, he was serving as honorary secretary of the Old Teamsters Association in recognition of his pioneer trail driving experiences.  He had many scrapes with the Indians, and some of his favorite stories concerned bear hunts when he first came to the area.

 On my father’s side, we have traced our genealogy back to Nikalous Lemberg in Steterburg-Nortenhof, Braunscheweig, Germany, who died in 1751.  My paternal grandparents were Christian Louis Lehmberg and Johanna Dietrich Lehmberg.  They came from Germany and settled at Castell, Llano County.

 My father was C. W. Lehmberg, and my mother was Aurora Johanna Rabke.  My father was employed by the Texas Agricultural Extension Service and served as county agent in Wilson, Runnels, and Brown Counties.

 Roberta, my sister, married Bill Cooper, and they live in Ozona, Texas.

 Sibyl can trace her family on the parental side to Colonel Thomas Thornton, who founded the town of Thornton, Arkansas and was a veteran of the Civil War.  Her father was Thomas Bruce Hollingsworth, who married Essie Mae Manning.  He retired in Stuttgart, Arkansas as division manager of the Southwestern States Telephone Company.  Sibyl has one brother, Charlie, who lives in Texarkana.

East Texas is a special place to us and we thoroughly enjoy living here.

 Submitted by Bill Lehmberg