If this site was useful to you, we'd be happy for a small donation. Be sure to enter "MLA donation" in the Comments box.
Eshleman, Lee (1963-2007)
Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2007 May 28 p. 1, 8
Birth date: 1963 May 28
text of obituary:
Eshleman, half of Ted & Lee duo, gave audiences inspiration and plenty of fun
By Jim Bishop
For Mennonite Weedkly Review
HARRISONBURG, Va. — The props were in place, lighting and sound were ready, and a final run-through had taken place earlier in the day for "Live at Jacob's Ladder," a musical written by and starring Ted Swartz and Lee Eshleman with composer Ken Medema.But, the performances of the new Ted & Lee production scheduled for May 18-19 at Eastern Mennonite High School didn't go on.
Late in the afternoon of May 17, Eshleman, 43, lost a long struggle with depression and took his life at his Harrisonburg home.
Surviving are his wife, Reagan, and children Nicolas, 12, Sarah, 10, and Gabe, 5, along with countless friends and fans of Ted & Lee from around the world.
"It feels like there's a piece of me missing," Swartz said. "When two appear on the public stage, it diffuses responsibility. There's a shared attention. Something magical happened in those settings. I think how fortunate we were to have had each other."
The nearly 20-year-run of the theatrical team of Ted & Lee began inauspiciously at Spruce Lake Retreat in the Pconon Mountains of Pennsylvania. Swartz, then a student in his early 30s at Eastern mennonite University, had prepared a series of comedy skethes for a
