R. P. M. Lehmann (1912–2000)

R.P.M. (Ruth Preston Miller) Lehmann was born in Ithaca, New York. In 1932, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Cornell University with a B.A. degree and went on to earn an M.A. there in 1934. After traveling in Europe, she spent a year at Bryn Mawr College as Scholar in English and then completed her Ph.D.at the University of Wisconsin in 1942. She became a teaching assistant, and was awarded the Edwin Markham Post-Doctorate Fellowship. Dr. Lehmann began her literary career in 1943 as editor of the language texts published by the U.S. Armed Forces Institute for military personnel to acquire speaking proficiency in the languages of the countries to which they were sent -- ranging from Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Turkish to the
European languages. After the war, she joined the faculties of George Washington University and Washington University in St. Louis as an instructor. In 1953-1954, she enjoyed a Kathryn McHale Traveling Fellowship from the AAUW to work in Ireland, studies that would later help her complete her first book. After several other academic appointments, she joined the University of Texas, rising to become professor in 1972. She became an internationally renowned linguist, translator, and literary scholar specializing in Old English and Irish, with books that included Fled Duin na nGedn (1964), Early Irish Verse (1982), and her most famous work, Beowulf: An Imitative Translation (1988). Her last major publication was Blessed Bastard: A Novel of Sir Galahad (1997). She was married to Winfred P. Lehmann, also an eminent linguist and professor at the University of Texas, and the couple had two children. Together they wrote American Conversation (1956), a book providing a year of English instruction for university students and professionals who came the USA under government international programs, which was the first and only text of its kind at the time and continued in use for many years.