Maren Cluever Affemann Lawhern was born on the first day of World War II, in Elmshorn Germany. She sometimes joked to friends in later years, that the warreally wasn't her fault. She remembered being strafed in front of her home by aircraft in the final year of the war.

She emigrated to Canada at age 18 and married Hans Jurg Affemann there. Their children were born near Toronto Ontario: Katja Affemann Richards now lives in Manassas Virginia, and Mark Affemann in Davidson North Carolina.

The Affemann family immigrated to the Endicott NY in 1962 to find work, and took Green Card status there. Jurg died suddenly in October 1975, shortly after the couple met Richard (“Red”) Lawhern through mutual friends. Courtship with Captain Lawhern grew from a letter of condolence sent across the continent at a time when email did not yet exist.

Maren and Red married in December 1978 and began a life of extensive travel and lifelong learning. She took US citizenship before joining Captain Lawhern on Air Force assignment in Wiesbaden Germany. Together with Mark and sometimes Katja visiting from college, they toured Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Low Countries, France and Italy before returning to northern Virginia in 1982. They would later return for short stays in Spain, cruises in the Western Mediterranean, Norway, England and Ireland.

After a final Air Force tour in Dayton Ohio, Maren and Red settled near Lancaster Pennsylvania, and two years later relocated to Sterling Virginia where they remained from 1990 to 2006. At the end of 2006, they relocated Red's job to Fort Mill South Carolina – just in time to avoid the financial crash of 2008.

Maren did many things in an exemplary life. Starting as a hair dresser in her youth, she finished an AA Degree at age 50. When she retired in 2001, she was responsible for over $25 Million dollars per month in mortgage resales.

Maren is survived by her husband of 47 years and by her children, her stepdaughter Helen Lawhern Kiddie Kocher and grandchildren Ezra and Erik Kocher, of San Francisco California.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the Humane Society of York County, where Maren volunteered.