Shirley Berger Lechleiter

Lechleiter, Shirley Berger, age 94, died on April 11th of 2026. Native Nashvillian. 

Survived by sons Price (Kit) and Sam (Sidney); grandchildren Lex (Hannah), Logan, and Gabe (Callie); and several nieces and nephews. Preceded in death by her husband of 71 years, Richard Price Lechleiter; parents Ruth Donahoo and Sam W. Berger Jr.; sisters Donnie Creighton Norman (Seth), Mary Knox Pilkerton (Fred), and Elinor Peek (Roger); and cousin, Myrtle Anne Archer. 

Her father and grandfather were principals in Loveman, Berger and Teitlbaum, a downtown specialty store. Their family home on Craighead Avenue, formerly known as Peach Blossom, was called Myrtlewood while the family lived there in honor of her grandmother, Myrtle Ziebert. Shirley attended Parmer, Overbrook and Woodmont grammar schools and Ward Belmont Preparatory School in Vanderbilt University, where she was a member, and now a life member, of the Delta-Delta-Delta Sorority. Community service was a lifelong priority for her with hands-on participation in the Episcopal Church: first female senior warden at Christ Church, St. Luke's Community House for 65 years, Fannie Battle Social Workers, Harris-Hillman School, the Boy Scout program, Red Cross as a Gray Lady at Maxwell Air Force Base Hospital in Montgomery, Alabama while Dick was stationed at the air base, and a volunteer in 1978 for the first in gathering and boxing of food for the Second Harvest Food Bank. 

She completed the program of Theological Education by extension from the school of Theology at the University of the South and was an organizer of the Downtown Association of Churches Storefront Ministry at 733 Commerce Street, which offered aid to Nashville's homeless population through counseling and employment guidance. In 1999, she was a finalist for the Mary Catherine Strobel Award and in 2004 accepted the "Strobel Group Award" on behalf of This-&-That Thrift Shop, which she helped found in 1971 to support St. Luke's daycare. 

The family is grateful for the kind and loving care Shirley received from the staff at Brookdale Green Hills Cumberland. 

A memorial service with interment in the columbarium will be at Christ Church Cathedral on May 7th, 2026 at 1:00 p.m. Visitation in the Parish Hall will precede the service at 11:30 a.m. 

Memorial contributions may be made to St. Luke's Community House located at 5601 New York Avenue, Nashville, TN 37209, Christ Church Cathedral located at 900 Broadway, Nashville, TN 37203, or the charity of your choice.