Samuel O. Lemon Jr.

May 31, 1928 - August 11, 2013

In the small coal town of Brownsville, PA, the Lemon family welcomed the arrival of their new son, Samuel Lemon Jr., on May 31, 1928. His father was a railroader and minor league baseball player. His mother, a well-read woman, managed the household, including all of the cooking, canning and finances. Sam had a sister, Ruth, also a college graduate, who helped him with his academic success. In school, Sam played baseball, basketball, and was on the debate team. He was tall and slender, with bright red hair (earning him the nicknames “Red” and “Citrus”.) His high school years were dominated by the events of WWII. After one year at a local college, he joined the Air Force for three years. He worked in the areas of cryptography, radar and intelligence. After he was honorably discharged, he enrolled at Penn State University. During that time he met lifelong friends, including Joe Paterno. He became the Commander of Sigma Nu fraternity and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in the class of 1953. After graduating from Penn State, he went to work for Westinghouse Electric Corporation, and spent 33 years with the company. During Sam’s career at Westinghouse, he served on two governmental task forces in Pittsburgh and the Pennsylvania State Assembly as a loaned executive. He also spent 11 years on the Board of Commissioners of Upper St Clair, Pa. as its President. He retired as the Director of Industrial Relations at the corporate headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pa. in 1986. Sam met Velma Wilson, a school teacher, in Palo Alto in April of 1958. They became engaged two months later and were married in Moscow, Id. Sam and Velma have four adult children Debi (Maurice Del Prado), Sue (Ed Ramans), Scott and Sandi (Matthew Becker). They have seven well- loved grandchildren: Brittany, Allyson, Emily, Kayla, David, Rachel and Sam. After retiring from Westinghouse, Sam and Velma moved from Upper St. Clair, Pa. to Truckee, Ca. where they spent many hours on the Tahoe Donner golf course. They stayed in Truckee for 11 snowy cold winters and then moved to San Ramon in 1997. Sam was an avid golfer , a humorist, a writer,and a sports enthusiast (especially for the Steelers and the Penn State Nittany Lions) . Most importantly he was a devoted husband, an inspiring father and a loving grandfather. Together with Velma, they visited all 50 US states as well as many foreign countries. A Memorial Service will be celebrated at Grace United Methodist Church, 19901 San Ramon Valley Blvd, San Ramon on Saturday August 31, at 11:00am. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that a donation be made in Sam’s name to a charity of your choice.