Memorial Tribute for Richard Lehto (1940 – 2021)

Richard Peter Lehto was created by God and born the day after the Fourth of July in the year 1940. His parents were Peter who died accidentally when he was very young, and Jennie, who died when he was 11. The youngest of 7, Richard said he never really knew he was an orphan until he was thirty or so, perhaps because his brother Clifford and Clifford's wife Joyce finished raising him, and because Richard always felt the Fatherly presence from above.

Richard once said "a golf course is a great place to grow up." It's where he learned focus, discipline, sportsmanship, and the importance of numbers, given he would later become a CPA, an IRS auditor, and a private tax preparer for well over fifty years all told. Golf is unique among sports because getting angry only makes you play worse, which teaches about life.

He loved the open road. He jumped at the chance to drive a U-Haul 3,400 miles to Alaska when his daughter Julie and her family moved there. He drove numerous times to Seattle to visit his son Paul and his family, and out to the East Coast to visit Andrew and his family. His oldest daughter Jennie lives in Ishpeming so he took her kids on a spontaneous no-stop trip to Banff National Park in Canada.  About 2,000 miles without stops except for fuel was his only limit. Most importantly he had a copilot and wife named Joyce who accompanied him on almost all of these incredible voyages.

He loved the open road, and as a child thought being a traveling hobo would be a fantastic adventure. He achieved that childhood dream as much as one can while also being a responsible employee, business owner, husband, father and grandfather.  Most of that is due to the influence of Joyce, who not only partially tamed and directed his inner adventuring hobo, but also showed him and shared with him the good life.  That is why one of their favorite photos of them together they had subtitled "We have shared together the blessings of God."

Similarly, Richard was a dedicated Gideon for decades.  Many would fear or dread to hand out leaflets or approach people, but Richard didn't hesitate to hand out Bibles on college campuses or talk to people about the Lord. He didn't privatize the love of God solely into a personal relationship with God, he shared it with the community like a disciple.  They don't keep stats but he must have handed out many thousands of testaments, some of you may have been offered more than one.

Having lost parents at a young age certainly can make someone needy, but Richard was always a giver, and a provider.  Even while seriously ill with mesothelioma his thoughts went toward giving to others who were in need. Until almost the very end, he continued his longtime practice of visiting shut-ins and hospitalized patients to visit with them and sharing God's word.

What many fear or dread to do, Richard considered to be a favorite pastime: visiting the sick and dying.  One time he visited a patient who had been completely nonverbal and nonresponsive for many years. He told her "I love you" and she giggled with delight. The nurses noted it on her chart as she hadn't made a sound for so very long.

In different ways, you can see in each of his four children that this legacy is passed on: each one does or has done things that others fear or dread to do, whether that is taking care of nursing home patients, counseling HIV patients, working as a woman engineer on the North Slope of Alaska in winter, and suing the government so everyone can have elections we can trust.  This spirit is starting to extend to another generation, as grandchildren grow.

Richard also donated thousands of units of blood and platelets over the years.  He could joke around, and a brother-in-law once told me that Richard had more fun than anyone he knew without drinking any alcohol.  But at the same time, Richard also found occasion many times to emphasize that he is telling the truth.  Notwithstanding any joshing around, Richard has a message he really wants everyone to believe.

Dad asked me to write this memorial, and he wanted to read and approve it before he died.  He did.  So you can consider this to be part of what he called "My last word and testament."  Not the last will, but the last word .  It is God's Word.

As Richard aged, he saw all of his brothers and sisters (together with their spouses) die before him, with the one remaining spouse on his side of the family currently in hospice herself.  When Richard and Joyce were a young married couple, they originally had 30 in-laws between them. In a way, he was orphaned again, but he stayed strong in love.

There's an old joke about a Finnish couple, where the wife asked the husband "why don't you tell me that you love me?"  The husband replied "I told you I loved you when I married you, and if that stops you will be the first to know."  But to Joyce, Richard says "thank you for being a good and godly wife, and for teaching me to enjoy life. I love you." He awakened while quite ill days prior to his 57 ^th anniversary and his first words were "Happy Anniversary!!"

He told his children he loved them and some friends too.  When a brother-in-law reached out to shake hands and wish Dad God's peace in Dad's weakened state, his usual half-whisper became a loud "I love you."

Isn't it pushing it at least a little to say I love you to a brother-in-law?  Or to a person who is unable to respond?  Yet the call to do so is always clear to a believer because God loves every single one of us, and we are called to be like God in this way, loving even our enemies. We all fall short and thus stand in need of forgiveness before God.

I passed my dad a note and asked him what he would like to say to his wife and those replies are above.  In the same note I asked him what he would say to his children and he said "please forgive me" and "I love you." And in the hospital he asked me if I had written his obituary yet. I told him I needed authorization, but would be happy to do it. He told me to do it and asked what ideas I had and could he read it before he passed away.  I said ok.

"It seems to me" I said, "that the message is "It's OK to say I love you", and that if it is in any way difficult for us to say that to ­anybody , then we should think of God who loves everybody , confess our shortcomings in love, and be in awe of the glory of God and His Son Jesus.  And that you really want people to believe you when you say that."

He smiled, nodded and said "that's very good."  "I'm ready to meet the Lord." This is Richard Peter Lehto's last Word and Testament.

The family will greet relatives and friends from 12:00pm – 2:00pm on Saturday, October 9, 2021, at the Eastwood Apostolic Lutheran Church in Negaunee. Funeral Services will follow at 2:00pm on Saturday with the Rev. Dale Niskanen and Rev. D. Michael Carriere officiating. Interment will take place at the Ishpeming Cemetery.  Pallbearers will be Ken Maki, Bob Edwards, Joe Pelkola, Duane Soine, Bruce Lawson, and David Smith. Honorary pallbearers will be his grandson's.

Memorials may be directed to The Gideons International at sendtheword.org or Eastwood Apostolic Lutheran Church, 121 Sunset Dr., Negaunee, MI 49866, in Richard's memory.