Obituary: Lisa Jaye Anderson

Lisa Jaye Anderson was born July 5, 1962 in Atlanta, GA to Donald and Mary Elizabeth (Bettie) Gehring. She was a daughter, mother, wife, confidante, survivor on many fronts and mentor in so many ways. In her youth she lived in: Athens, GA, Mars Hill, NC and Louisville, KY. As an adult she lived in Washington DC, North Pole, AK, Cincinnati, OH, and most recently Oxford, OH where she resided with her spouse and partner Ted Wong and where she passed away peacefully on Dec. 27, 2025. She was 63 years old. 

Lisa was proud of her Austrian/German heritage and ancestry. Her forbearers fled persecution in Europe and settled in the deep south of the U.S. and became established and respected members of their communities in Sylvester, GA. Her claim to fame was her great great-great grandfather, Franz Gruber who wrote the melody to, “Silent Night.” She enjoyed telling stories about her parents,  grandparents, aunts and uncles and how they influenced her formative years. She held her southern roots close and dear to her heart and the values that came with her heritage followed her throughout life. She worked hard at keeping her family history alive and strong and wanted her children and grandchildren to know about their heritage and her legacy. 

She cared deeply about the people surrounding her and she was filled with empathy, compassion and love. She was a hippie at heart and loved wearing her tie-dye shirts, dresses, purple dyed hair and she had a reverence for all things spiritual. She practiced Buddhism and had a great respect for life and practiced the mantra, “do no harm” to its fullest. She would often joke, “I can’t hire you as the hitman to kill the spider” when a spider needed to be dealt with. 

She thought the world of her family and Ted, her husband. She was the glue that held the family together and she cherished the time she was able to spend with the daughters and sons would visit. Her goal in raising children was to make sure they grew up to be empathic, caring, respectful and compassionate human beings. 

Besides the daughters and “bonus” sons she loved her cats. She loved to dote on them and if there is a role model for a spoiled cat it was one of the cats that lived at Lisa’s house. No cat in the house or neighborhood would go unfed unless they wanted to be. Lisa was the poster child for the crazy cat lady. 

She attended college at the University of Louisville, KY where she earned a degree in education. After teaching for several years in grades K-12 in Kentucky she moved to Alaska with her husband at that time, Patrick Seger. In Alaska she continued to teach but to a different group and different subject. She traveled throughout Alaska to cities and small remote villages teaching vulnerable adults how to prevent and defend themselves from domestic violence and abuse. In this setting and career path she realized her true calling was in social work. After several years in Alaska she entered graduate school at The University of Cincinnati  and earned a masters degree in social work. She served as a therapist for many years in Kentucky helping people overcome their personal and social conflicts. She later took a job at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital where she served as a medical social worker. She was very proud of her work there. She worked in the ENT Clinic under renowned surgeon Dr. Robin Cotton who specialized in pediatric airway reconstructions. She helped coordinate the logistics of patients coming to the clinic from all over the globe and helping them get needed services during lengthy hospital stays and organizing their aftercare and their travel logistics.  She once exclaimed, “I can get a patient in and out of a country that is under a military siege if I had to.” That is because she did have to do that at one time. She said many times, “My biggest reward from working in that department was all I learned from my patients, on how to be a patient.” 

For over 20 years she had suffered from adrenal insufficiency, a progressive disease of the endocrine system that inhibits the body’s ability to produce the necessary hormones that regulate every function of the body. It was an ongoing struggle that profoundly affected her physical and emotional life and caused her to have to take an early retirement at age 50. But she was a survivor and the disease made her fortitude even stronger. She became a strong advocate for herself and taught others in her support groups how to advocate for themselves. Through a vast support network she became a well known voice and resource and helped many people cope with Adrenal diseases. She is forever grateful to Dr. Naila Goldenberg, her neuro-endocrinologist and all those that helped her cope and lead as healthy a life as possible. 

Lisa is preceded in death by Bettie Gehring (mother, 2013) and Donald Gehring (father, 2020). She is survived by her daughter(s), Rachael (Lemont), Aurora (estranged) and her “bonus” sons: Adrian, Elliott, Nicolas, Ex-spouse; Patrick Seger(Lek), brother David Gehring, niece Nicole Sullivan (Steven) and spouse/partner/soulmate Ted Wong and cats: Larry, Francesca, Beckett, Mama Stripes, as well as Grand puppy Daizai and grand bunny Momiji. 

A memorial will be conducted on April 17, 2026, Time and location to be decided. Please contact Susie Mathis at: sem0713@gmail.com for more details. 

This obituary was originally published by Paul R. Young Funeral Home and has been edited for length.