[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 132 (Monday, September 29, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1883-E1884]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   A TRIBUTE TO REV. RICHARD J. LEHMAN, PASTOR OF THE CONGREGATIONAL 
                        UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL P. FORBES

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 29, 1997

  Mr. FORBES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Rev. Richard 
J. Lehman, pastor of the Congregational United Church of Christ, in 
Farmingville, Long Island, who this Sunday will celebrate the 50th 
anniversary of his ordination.
  Along with the golden anniversary of his ordination in 1947, Reverend 
Lehman will also

[[Page E1884]]

mark two other important milestones this Sunday: he and his congregants 
will celebrate the 25th anniversary of his pastorship of the 
Congregational United Church of Christ, on the same day as his 75th 
birthday.
  A truly gifted and dedicated professional, Reverend Lehman has built 
a proud legacy of service to the spiritual needs of his congregants. 
This Sunday, September 28, 1997, the Congregational United Church of 
Christ community will join in praising his outstanding life of service 
with a special festival service. Friends, family, and colleagues will 
come from across Long Island, 13 States, Australia, and England to 
honor the lifetime of service to the church.
  Throughout his 50-year career, Reverend Lehman has dedicated his 
time, energy, and talents to his alternate calling: educating 
ministers, rabbis, priests, and seminarians in the skills of pastoral 
care to the sick. Upon graduating from Oberlin Graduate School of 
Theology, Reverend Lehman was assigned to his first church in Elyria, 
OH. It was there that he began his training in clinical pastoral 
education, completing a 2-year residency at University Hospital in Ann 
Arbor.
  For the next 40 years, Reverend Lehman was employed by the New York 
State Department of Mental Hygiene, teaching clinical pastoral 
education to clergy and seminarians at two psychiatric hospitals, the 
first in Gowanda, NY. Then in 1967, Reverend Lehman arrived at Central 
Islip Psychiatric Center, on Long Island. During his teaching career, 
Reverend Lehman trained more than 600 clergy and seminarians for 
careers in pastoral care.
  Though retired from Central Islip Psychiatric Center, Reverend Lehman 
still serves as pastor of the Congregational United Church of Christ. 
Reverend Lehman married his first wife, Priscilla, while living in 
Gowanda, and they had two children, Nancy and Thomas. Priscilla Lehman 
succumbed to cancer in 1989, and he eventually married again, to 
longtime family friend, Marilyn Birkmann Blume.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues in the House of Representatives to 
join me in honoring Rev. Richard J. Lehman for his remarkable lifetime 
of service to God and man. Through the Grace of God, our Long Island 
community has been truly blessed with the ministry of this gifted and 
spiritual man.

                          ____________________