He would ultimately complete his undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Virginia before beginning to work for the foreign service in 1974.

[1][6][7] During his time there he would participate in events such as the inauguration of the Armenian Card (ArCa) national debit system.

[8] Lemmon would also take a role in the Foreign Service Institute, acting as Dean of the School of Language Studies.

[12] In April 2012, Lemmon spoke at an event for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on the 2009 Turkey-Armenia Protocols.

During this event, he stressed the progress the protocols represented and related his hopes for future Track II efforts.