Agnes Lehmann Buhl

She was born on May 8, 1917, in Austin, Texas, to Irma Marie (Reisner) and Ernest Rudolph Wilde. She was preceded in death by her parents, her brothers, Walter and Albert Wilde, niece Cynthia Wilde Montesinos, and her husbands, Leroy Gustav Lehmann and Albert Hugo Buhl, and son-in-law, Donald Kylberg.

Agnes is survived by her five children: son Ernest Lehmann (Nadya) and their sons, Justin Lehmann (Zee) and Ryan Lehmann (Zoe) and their children, Cicily and Connor; daughter Annette Ward Kylberg and her daughter, Elizabeth Ward Kylberg (Pattrick), their children, Devon Kylberg (Brandon Nehring) and their children, Kaylee, Brodee, and Rowdee, due in May; Megan, Cody, and Shannon Kylberg (Eric Rolls) and their son, Vaus; and her daughter, Stephanie Ward; daughter Jean Wilson (Charles), and their children, Steven Wilson and his daughter Abigail; Kathryn Wilson and her children, Kamberlyn and Jax; Terri Wilson Downey (Jonathan) and their children, Nathan and Chloe; Tracy Wilson Henry (Eric); Todd Wilson (Tina) and their sons, Ashton and Chandler; daughter Kathryn Lehmann; daughter Carolyn Lehmann and her son, Quentin Lehmann (Julie) and their children, Terrill Watson (Ashley) and their children Makinna, Brayden, and Brody; Makayla, Madison, Zachry, and Hallie; daughter Hilary Alford (Clint) and their children, Logan and Emilie; and son, Dallas Burrow (Stacy Laird) and their son Tex, due any day. She is also survived by nephew Steve Wilde (Mary), nieces Galen Hoffstadt (David) and Trina Moskovitz (Steven), and six grandnieces and grandnephews.

Born in Austin, Agnes’ first trip to New Braunfels was with her mother, on the train, when she was six weeks old, to visit her mother’s sister, Helena Plumeyer. Throughout her childhood, Agnes visited her NB cousins. In 1935, she was invited to be in her cousin Emma Plumeyer’s wedding. The day before the wedding, she met the groomsman, Leroy Lehmann. Their courtship was on and off through the years, while she attended The University of Texas, graduating with honors in 1938 with a degree in Home Economics. She worked as a home demonstration agent in Groesbeck for a year, and then as a teacher in LaGrange for a year, before resigning to marry Leroy Lehmann. She could not even be engaged and continue teaching!

Agnes and Leroy married on April 2, 1941, at St. Martin’s Lutheran Church in Austin, Texas. They lived in the heart of downtown New Braunfels, at 230 West Mill Street, next door to the house at 210 West Mill where Leroy had his chiropractic office. They raised their five children on Mill Street, and Agnes continued to live there after Leroy’s death in 1981. In 1987, she designed and built a new home for herself - high on a hill in Palace Heights where she enjoyed the view of the town and the beautiful sunsets.

Upon moving to New Braunfels, Agnes moved her church membership to First Protestant Church where Leroy was on the church council, and she taught Sunday School, was active in the Women’s Circles, and was President of the Frauenverein. After Leroy’s death, she returned to her Lutheran roots and became an active member of St. Paul Lutheran Church. She married Reverend Albert Buhl there on Saturday, October 24, 1998, after a week’s delay from the original date - due to the October 17th Flood. (She was 81 - and he was 90!) They shared a love for music, travel, reading, and family. In the four years and four months of their wonderful marriage, they made five out-of-state trips - one to his hometown of Utica, New York, to meet his older brother and sister.

After having a son and two daughters, Agnes was asked in 1949 to teach at the junior high just up the street on Mill (now the Education Center). That year she taught English and math to 7th graders, many of whom still remember her fondly. She took a few years off, having two more daughters, and then in 1956 returned to teach Home Economics in the ‘Cottage’ on Mill Street across from the Junior High. She moved up to the high school on Guenther Avenue to teach Home Economics, where she decorated the department’s living room where they taught manners and social graces.

In 1961, in response to the United States lagging behind Russia in the race to space, our government wanted to have more foreign languages taught in our schools. Agnes was asked to teach German at New Braunfels High School - thus reintroducing the teaching of German for the first time since World War II. Having grown up speaking German with her parents and grandparents, attending German Summer Camps in Austin, and taking German throughout her school years, she was fluent in the language and very willing. She received federal grants to attend German language study programs in the summer of 1962 at the University of Colorado in Boulder, and in the summer of 1964 at the University of Stuttgart in Germany. She took her students Christmas caroling and put on plays in German for the community. She not only took her German Club students to conventions of TAGS (Texas Association of German Students), but also hosted the first ever TAGS convention held at a high school (rather than a university). Agnes also served as President of the Texas Foreign Language Association. And, she organized the first Wednesday Student Day at Wurstfest that continues today. She coined the statement “In New Braunfels ist das Leben schoen” when Tom Purdum of the Greater NB Chamber of Commerce asked her how to say, “It’s a good life in New Braunfels.” She continued to teach German at NBHS until her retirement in 1973.

Agnes’ calendar was always filled with club meetings and volunteer activities, as a young mother, as a teacher, and later in life, too. During these years, she was a member - and often President of - many organizations, including the New Braunfels Music Study Club, Gemischter Chor Harmonie, Community Chorale, New Braunfels Garden Club, German-American Society, Delta Kappa Gamma, Retired Teachers Association, American Association of University Women, and Conservation Society. For the seventeen years between husbands, she had four season tickets to the Bass Concert Series at her alma mater UT. She would take other single lady friends to enjoy the symphony. After meeting newly widowed Albert Buhl at a German-American Society meeting, she invited him to become a regular symphony attendee. Agnes enjoyed performances by the Mid-Texas Symphony and concerts at Festival Hill Institute at Round Top. In her late seventies, she began bowling with the Monday Afternoon Ladies League for the Farmer’s Mutual team. Later, she added a bi-weekly bridge game with friends to her calendar. Agnes served as a Girl Scout leader for daughters Annette and Jean. She also volunteered for more than 25 years at the Eden Home, playing piano for their Sunday morning church service. She played piano for many others, but also for her own enjoyment up until the last year. She was often asked to translate documents written in the original German script and taught private German lessons for adults. She was honored for her contributions to the community by the Greater New Braunfels Arts Council and was named an Unsung Hero by the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung.

Agnes’ love of learning, travel, and music was evident throughout her life. After the first summer in Germany in 1964, she returned on three other trips to visit family in Germany, usually staying three to six weeks. Highlights of her trips included hearing Billy Graham speak in Dresden, visiting family in East Berlin (before the tearing down of the Berlin Wall), and meeting the pen pal with whom she had been corresponding since they were 16. She also went on a trip to Europe with a Southern Living tour group to visit the famous gardens in five countries. She enjoyed learning at Elderhostels in New Mexico, Louisiana, Georgia, Alberta Canada, Maine, and Oklahoma. Agnes earned many medals for walking in 5K and 10K walks sponsored by the Marsch und Wandergruppe and others around Texas.

Agnes had a love of community, her German heritage, and family. She loved telling stories of our ancestors and writing accounts of our family history. She was very proud of her family and the fact that she had 32 blood descendants. She loved to tell us that at a family gathering Leroy looked around at the large group, then said to her with that sly smile of his, "See what we did?" She was a very special woman and will truly be missed.

The family wants to thank caregivers Mike Burrow, Krystie May, and Misty Garland, and the staffs of Eden Hill and Hope Hospice for their compassionate care provided for Mom over the past year. Also, our thanks to Mary McDonald and Faye Jones who cared for Mom for several years before that. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in her memory to the Gemischter Chor Harmonie or the Music Ministry at Eastside Baptist Church, 983 Holly Street, New Braunfels, or The Sophienburg Museum & Archives, NB Music Study Club for their scholarship fund (Johnana Clark, Treasurer, 135 Rest Haven, McQueeney, TX 78123).

Visitation with family will be on Friday, January 13, from 5-8 pm at Zoeller Funeral Home, 615 Landa Street, New Braunfels. The Celebration of Life service will be Saturday, January 14, 2017 at 2 pm at First Protestant Church, corner of Coll Street and Seguin Avenue, followed by a reception in the Family Life Center, graciously hosted by the FPC Bereavement Committee.

You may leave messages for the family at the online registry at www.zoellerfuneralhm.com.