Lesma Niebch

One of the early sales people who sold lots and homes in Lehigh Acres did her job from the Panama Canal Zone while working for the old Lehigh Corp.

Because of the sales to many of her friends and others, she came to know Lehigh Acres and later moved to the community. While in Panama she had sales parties for the corporation in her home

Her stepdaughter, Betty Ann Niebch said it was “a joyful time of her life. While in the Canal Zone, she was elected as president of the Women’s Auxiliary Post 3822.”

Lesma Niebch was born in 1914 in the Panama Canal Zone. It was the same year that the building of the Panama Canal was completed.

She was married to James Albert Niebch at a U.S. Army base in the Panama Canal in 1944 and at age 30, she was a pioneer as the first lady to open a beauty salon on the base and she became known, according to her step daughter as the first “Miss Panama” because of her beauty and intelligence. Her stepdaughter said she had received 25 diplomas in her life and was a woman of many talents.

She had been involved with the American Red Cross as a nurse and was involved in interior decorating and was a cake decorator and caterer, as well as a seamstress.

Stepdaughter Betty Ann Niebch said she became the first secretary to the first president of Panama.

While selling properties in Lehigh Acres, she and her husband decided to build a home in the community and came to live in that home in 1969, her stepdaughter said.

“She encouraged many others to also build their dream homes in Lehigh. Many of these owners formed a Panama Canal Zone Club in Lehigh of which she was a member for many years,” Niebch said.

She said her father, James Niebch, and her stepmother traveled throughout the country before they settled in Lehigh. He had been married before and is the father of Betty Ann Niebch. Her stepmother had also been married before and had a daughter, Esperanza.

Once they moved to Lehigh, Niebch said her father worked for a drafting a drafting company and he also owned horse.

Her stepmother became an active member of the First Presbyterian Church and was also involved in the American Legion Post 328 for many years. She continued work for Lehigh Corp., selling property to military personnel and others

“She was loved by her peers and friends. Anyone who met her became a lifelong friend,” her stepdaughter said.

Unfortunately, Niebch said her father died in 1970 and didn’t get to live that long to enjoy their Lehigh home.

Having been a West Point graduate, her father was given a military funeral with honors. He was a member of the VFW Post in Lehigh.

“Many of her friends did not know when she passed away,” Niebch said.

“That was because she was in a nursing home in Fort Myers for several years before she died in 2008 at Lee Memorial Hospital.

“She will be remembered for her beauty, compassion, lifestyle, big hats, marching shoes, huge smile and her loving nature,” Niebch said.

“I just wanted people to know that she has passed away because from time to time I am asked about where she is,” she said.

“I think she will always be remembered on one of the queens of Lehigh Acres and Miss Panama Canal,” she said. Her ashes are interred at Lee memorial Park.