Centenarian led life of service

Rachel Lehmann was the ultimate people person.

A longtime volunteer for the Atlanta Opera, late-blooming performer and World War II veteran, the spry centenarian had an uncanny devotion to serving others.

“When I asked her recently her secret of how she lived so long, she looked at me with a twinkle in her eye and said, ‘Love,’ ” grandnephew Dr. Ben Bernstein said. “Everyone who encountered her talked of the joy she gave them, how much she gave them.”

That dedication was evident in her almost three decades of volunteering with the Atlanta Opera, a group she joined in its infancy.

“I’ve never heard of an instance of someone who worked full time as a volunteer for 20 years,” said Paul Melroy, the opera’s director of finance and administration. “She never wanted a dime. She’d get upset if you bought her lunch.”

The only perk she didn’t resist was cab fare when she was no longer able to drive, he said.

Although her volunteer duties had her seating people, handling tickets and making deposits, she was known most as a fixture backstage, assisting performers with their makeup and wigs, Mr. Melroy said.

“She was in all her glory when we had a production going on,” Mr. Melroy said. “That’s when Rachel was at her max.”

Rachel Rosen Lehmann of Atlanta died Thursday from complications of a stroke at Williams Breman Jewish Home. She was three days shy of her 106th birthday.

The funeral is noon today at the Ahavath Achim Synagogue, 600 Peachtree Battle Ave. in Atlanta. Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care is handling arrangements.

Born in New York City, Mrs. Lehmann was dedicated to service throughout her life. In World War II, she was a sergeant in the Women’s Army Corps and for years served as national deputy of the Jewish War Veterans.

In her later years, Mrs. Lehmann enjoyed performing. It started when she was a finalist in the Senior Miss Georgia Pageant in 1992 and blossomed when she and her troupe of seniors performed at nursing homes across metro Atlanta. Mrs. Lehmann would sing her signature tunes, “Second Hand Rose” and “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.”

“She was easily the oldest person in the group by 10 or 15 years,” Mr. Melroy said. “It was all schmaltz, but she loved it. She loved dressing up. She loved performing. She wasn’t afraid of doing anything. “

Cristina Herrera, the opera’s director of communications, said Mrs. Lehmann had a candor all her own. If she had to decline a credit card, she would tell the patron, “Darlin’ … you spent a little too much on your credit card because it didn’t go through.”

“She said it in an endearing way so nobody ever got mad,” Herrera said.

Lindsay Smith, a ticketing services associate who started in 1999, recalled Mrs. Lehmann’s flair for fashion. “Of all of us in the office, she was the only one who wore makeup and heels every day,” Ms. Smith said.

And her zest for living makes it harder to believe she’s gone, Ms. Smith said. “We all knew Rachel would die someday, but it never happened, so we stopped believing it.”

Dr. Bernstein said that although Mrs. Lehmann didn’t leave behind any immediate family, “Countless people felt she was an aunt or a grandmother or a mother to them, and she welcomed them into her life.”