Inge Crayne Lipscomb, age 91, passed away peacefully on Sunday, April 30, 2023, at Jesse Frank Nursing Home. She was the daughter of the late Willi and Helene Lehmann of Berlin, Germany. She was born February 8, 1932, and moved to Newberry, SC, November of 1957. She proudly became a United States citizen in 1958.

Inge grew up in Werneuchen, Germany, in the pre-World War II Hitler era. She experienced an interesting and eventful life. She was conscripted into the Hitler Youth as a 10-year-old. She and her brother Lothar were taken from their home and parents for safekeeping. Her brother was sent to Mallnitz-Kantor and she was sent to Dresden to live with a baker and his wife. Shortly after being sent there in 1942, England began bombing Dresden. Inge was very blessed to have been housed outside the city and survived, but many of her friends housed inside the city did not. When she was finally able to return home, she learned that her mother had been taken by the invading Russian army and that her home had been seized and was being used as one of the Russian headquarters by an officer and his wife. It would be many more years before her mother was returned to Germany, and only then did Inge, her father, and brother learn that her mother had been forced to work in the Russian coal mines.

In 1947 at age 15 in the dead of night, Inge swam the Aller River alone, carrying only a knapsack in order to escape from Communist East Germany into the Democratic West Germany. She finally made her way into Rethen, West Germany, to work on the farm of her great aunt and uncle. She continued to Fachwe, North Wales, to find work as a pastry chef in the mansion of the Bibby sisters who owned Bibby shipping lines. They sent her to Stockport College to improve her English, which proved to become a blessing in her life. She always appreciated and valued the kindness, knowledge, and life lessons of encouragement she received from the Bibby sisters during her three years of working for them.

Soon after she left the Bibby sisters, she met American Air Force Master Sergeant Talmadge Crayne of Whitmire, SC, while he was on the train from Berlin to Chaumont Air Base in France. He asked for her address, and they began corresponding. Later they were married in Chaumont and were blessed with their first son, Michael, in 1957. Shortly after his birth they moved to Newberry, SC. Inge said she immediately loved Newberry and its wonderful people.

She worked in many different places, but her niche was found when she became a Mary Kay Cosmetics Lady. She was a natural salesperson and enjoyed the success of her new career. She earned many prizes for being tops in sales but her favorite of all occurred in 1988 in Dallas, Texas, where she was recognized at the Mary Kay National Convention as Queen of Sales for South Carolina.

She is survived by her two sons, Michael Talmadge Crayne of Prosperity, and Peter Woodrow Crayne and his wife, Patricia, of San Diego, California; four grandchildren, Jennifer Crayne and Steven Crayne of Germany, Erika Crayne and Amanda Crayne of Newberry, four great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents and brother of Germany, her youngest son, Ben Robert (Bobby) Crayne, and her three husbands: Talmadge W. Crayne, Donald Gilliam, and Garrett Lipscomb.

Appreciation is extended to Springfield Place and Jesse Frank Hawkins Nursing homes and staff, Dr. Oscar Lovelace, Dr. Michael Bernardo, Ron and Theresa Halfacre, Doug and Debra Templin, and Johnnie Mae Bookman for their loving care over the years.

Services will be at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 2112 Glenn Street Extension, Newberry, on Wednesday, May 3, 2023, at 4:00 PM. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the church.  Interment will be at Newberry Memorial Gardens.

Pall Bearers will be: Ron Halfacre, Baron Buzhardt, Jared Templin, Matthew Templin, Nathan Templin, Adam Templin. Honorary Pall Bearer will be Joseph Templin.

The family suggests memorials to: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in care of Bishop Matthew Templin, 428 Hawkins Court, Prosperity, SC 29127, or Newberry County Animal Control, 240 Public Works Drive, Newberry, SC 29108.