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| 11/4/2009 1:02:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | Son Of Warsaw Resident Dies In Afghan Explosion
Daniel Riordan
Times-Union Staff Writer
Eric Lembke had turned his life around.
After troubles as a child that included an estrangement with his biological mother, Lembke was on the right track.
Married with two children, Lembke was prepared to end his tour of duty in Afghanistan in February.
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Lembke lost his life Oct. 23 when an explosive device hit his vehicle, according to the US Department of Defense.
Sunday his body was flown to Dover Air Force Base in Deleware.
And in Warsaw, a mother grieved.
Saundra "Sam" Sajak gave birth to Lembke in 1983. After a situation Sajak calls "complicated," she moved to the Warsaw area in 1995 while Lembke stayed with a foster family in Florida.
But according to Sajak, she and Lembke had reconciled.
Sajak spoke to Lembke before he was deployed to Afghanistan.
Sajak said Lembke planned on bringing his wife and two kids to Warsaw to visit when he got home.
"He was such a wonderful husband, father and such a wonderful young man," said Sajak.
Sajak works in the medical records department of Kosciusko Community Hospital.
Sajak said Lembke was devoted to his children.
"The kids never sat in front of the TV," said Sajak. "He was always doing something with them outside."
His children, Alexis and Thomas, survive along with his wife Mashelle.
Sajak and her husband Jim live in the area while half sisters Leah Heberling and Ann Stephenson live in Georgia and Indianapolis respectively. Half brother Nelson Stephenson lives in Salem.
Sajak said she hopes to attend the funeral in Florida Friday but is still trying to procure funds to do so.
Lembke's obituary appears on page 3A.
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