Seven Decades Later: John Gets His Dad's Flag!

By Tina Lesher

Several weeks ago, our daughter Melissa received a message through Facebook from a Deborah Townsend who asked if Melissa was the granddaughter of Christian Lesher, who was killed in February 1945 in the Philippines.

Melissa immediately replied that indeed her father, my husband John, is the son of Christian C. Lesher who was killed in battle in Luzon during World War II when John was 16 months old. Christian Lesher, who died on his 29th birthday, never had a chance to see his only child.

Deborah is married to my husband John’s first cousin, Gerry Townsend. In September, Gerry’s mother, Georgia Lesher Townsend, passed away at age 98.  She was the younger sister of John’s father.

The Lesher family resided in Reading, Pa., where John was born in late 1943. But he and his mother moved out to other Pennsylvania towns when John was young and his connections to the Lesher side of the family plummeted over the years    So he really did not know his Aunt Georgia or her children.

Deborah Townsend was in search of John’s contact numbers to inform him that Aunt Georgia for years had been in possession of the American flag given to Christian Lesher’s family after he died in the line of duty.  Now his cousins wanted John to have that flag.

John was a bit flummoxed as he recalled that the government had presented his mother with a flag shortly after her spouse’s death.  She gave that flag to St. Joseph’s School in Ashland, Pa. when John was a student there in the early grades. The flag flew over the school.

So how could there still be a flag, wondered John.

Then he remembered that, at the request of the Lesher family, his father’s body was disinterred and brought back from the Philippines for burial in Reading. John was about 4 years old at the time and has vague memories of being at the cemetery for the ceremonies. No doubt the casket was covered with a U.S. flag that apparently was given to John’s grandmother, Anna Brennan Lesher. When she died, the flag wound up with her children, eventually in the hands of her daughter Georgia, and after the latter’s recent death, with her offspring.

Indeed John was thrilled that he would have the flag that represented the sacrifice made by his father, who served in the Medic Corps and was helping others when he lost his life. 

Thus, earlier this week Melissa and I accompanied John to the Hotel Bethlehem in Pennsylvania where three long-lost cousins---children of Aunt Georgia—hosted a luncheon and presented John with the flag that they had encased in a traditional triangular box.  John brought along some memorabilia that he had inherited from his late mother, including medals and a letter from a chaplain who knew Christian Lesher. The cousins gave John photos of his dad and a book detailing the history of the military unit in which he served. They all swapped stories they knew about the family, too.

 John was grateful for the chance to reconnect with cousins and to receive, 73 years after his father’s death, such a special flag.

Since we have a 25-foot flag pole outside our Westfield home, John plans to fly that flag on appropriate occasions like Memorial Day or Veterans Day, in memory of the father he never knew and the many thousands who have died for this country.

No doubt it will be the lone 48-star flag flying in town.

Congratulations, Dr. John C. Lesher!

When John and I married in 1970, he was immersed in graduate studies at the highly regarded  Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.  I toiled on the staff of the Philadelphia Inquirer to help pay the rent, and was thrilled when he completed his MBA in 1971. He said he could not be bothered attending the graduation ceremony but I hosted a party for him that afternoon at the rooftop lounge at our Philadelphia apartment building.

Then off we went to northern New Jersey and his job with the real estate division of Prudential. After nine years there---and transfers that resulted in our three children being born in different states---John hightailed it to Manhattan and a position at Madison Equities, a real estate development firm.

The trappings of academia eluded him for years except for several semesters when he taught as an adjunct at NYU. I would love to have taken his graduate classes in the Real Estate Development program as he was the most prepared instructor I ever knew. His course outlines should have been turned into a textbook.

Years Later...

Fast forward to 2009 and John, whose interest in history is exhibited in the scores of books that line shelves in our abode, said he might like to take a night class in history. We checked out universities in the commuting area, and he decided on Montclair State. So that fall, he went to MSU one night a week for an initial class that really impressed him. So he took another class the following semester. Since our state universities mandate that you must be enrolled in a formal program after completing two courses, John officially entered the master’s program and took one or two classes a year while he continued to work.

When he retired from Madison Equities in January 2013, he became a fulltime student at Montclair and was awarded his MA in history later that year. Again, he skipped graduation.

More Studies???

He then decided he wanted to go on for a doctorate---sort of an amazing goal for someone who was about to be 70. I figured he might consider programs in English because he had a bachelor’s degree in the field, or business or history, the areas in which he had received master’s degrees.  But no---he told me he wanted to pursue a PhD in political science.

I laughed and said: “You have never had one course in political science.  I sincerely doubt you can get into a doctoral program with zero background in the field. And the fact that you are a senior citizen probably cannot help.”  Yet he was keyed into poli sci because his objective, he said, was to study the fall of the British Empire and compare it to what might be happening in America. It was something that had drawn his interest for years and he figured it eventually would make a good dissertation topic.

He applied only to one program---at Rutgers, our state university.  A gifted writer, John penned an extraordinary essay to accompany his application.  Sure enough, next thing I know John became a fulltime doctoral student in political science at Rutgers in September 2013 and we were again sending tuition checks to the institution where I earned a doctorate in English education when I was 44.

Exemplary Student

John did not miss classes, no matter what time they were held in New Brunswick. He became proficient with the computer keyboard as he banged out paper after paper with his two-finger typing method. When he made his first in-class presentation, he was a picture of sartorial splendor in a dark suit and cufflinked shirt.  (The professor complimented him, probably because such professional dress unfortunately is not quite common in higher education these days).   He finished every assignment on time, and wrote an impressive so-called “second-year paper” centered on the Voting Rights Act and its implications.

For months, after completing his required classes, he studied for two tests: a 12-hour exam in his major, American Politics, and an eight-hour exam in International Relations, one of his minors. Frankly, he was a bit nervous in preparing for those tests, not because he feared he would not know the material but he was afraid that his newfound typing skills might not allow him to finish in the assigned time.  But he passed the exams and, per department rules, he then had to face a faculty panel that quizzed him about the essay-type answers he had written.

One panel member was Dr. Ross Baker, a distinguished professor who is widely recognized for his research about Congress. Dr. Baker earlier had read John’s second-year paper and encouraged him to continue researching the Voting Rights Act for his doctoral dissertation.

John said No. He explained that he already had a dissertation committee in place and planned to write about the Fall of the British Empire, etc.

Later, at home, John mulled the idea of switching topics. I encouraged him to think about it. After all, he had enjoyed writing about voting rights and Congressional majority-minority districts, and such subjects were more aligned to his major.  So he made a decision to heed Dr. Baker’s suggestion and secured a new dissertation committee, with Baker as chairman.

 So much for the British Empire. It really did fall---out of John’s plans.

Master's Degree Number 3

At that point in his studies John was informed that he had completed the requirements for a master’s in political science.  So last May, while John was already on his dissertation path, he graduated again---and skipped the ceremony, as usual.

John worked day and night on his dissertation research about majority-minority districts, voting rights, gerrymandering and whatever else he was studying.  He used more than the Internet and libraries---we ran up a big bill on Amazon as books arrived several times a week at our Westfield home. (He read them all).  At one point he asked me to edit his writing, so I took out the red pen.  But I had little use for it. After all, John has always been a superb writer and I attribute that to his love of reading, and his early education with the nuns.  This week, I had a chance to read the lengthy, completed dissertation and I must admit it is truly impressive! The ideas he puts forth in a prescriptive addendum will make good reading for those involved in Congressional redistricting.

The end of his academic journey basically came today at Rutgers where, at age 73, he defended his dissertation and became Dr. John C. Lesher. Thus he enters an unusual demographic: the few people over 70 who complete doctoral programs.  What an accomplishment!

This time, though, John WILL make the Rutgers convocation ceremony where doctoral students are hooded and receive their official degrees. I will be there on May 12, along with our children. And yes--- we will be throwing a party!

Congrats to John C. Lesher, Ph.D.