Owen Joseph Lecheler

March 19, 1931 - September 1, 2020

Owen Joseph Lecheler, 89, of Fort Collins Colorado passed away on September 1, 2020. Owen was born in Farm Hill, a small town in Wisconsin. He was one of nine children and grew up working hard on the family farm. Owen gave up the farming life to attend college at North Dakota State University where he received his master’s degree in Speech Pathology. Through a blind double-date that his sister set up, he met and married the love of his life Connie, whom he was married to for over 65 years. Owen never gave up his love for farming. He always had a huge garden where he grew a variety of vegies and it came in handy to send his children to weed the garden when they misbehaved. Nobody could grow a tomato like him. Owen also loved camping and fishing in the Colorado mountains. When nobody else could catch a fish, Owen would always be able to catch one. He was like a fish-whisperer. He was also very lucky in cards which he would play with his friends and family whenever possible. Owen was also an avid football fan. His favorite teams were Notre Dame, Denver Broncos, and the Green Bay Packers. He was an active member of John XXIII church and the Knights of Columbus. Owen started his career as a teacher, then after he completed his master’s degree went on to help open Gateway Sheltered Workshop. He worked several years as a director at Gateway then later at The A.R.C. in Laramie, Wyoming where he commuted to daily from Fort Collins for over five years. Owen loved spending time with his family. He and Connie raised six children. Paul (Barb), Jennine Billingsley (Doug), Nicholas (Molly), Mary Hohnstein (Brant), John (Kathleen), and Rosanne McDonnell (Mike). They had fifteen grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. He will be met in heaven by his parents, Nicholas and Henrietta Lecheler, several brothers and sisters, and three grandchildren; Shannon Lecheler; Mitchell Bengford; and Stephen Lecheler. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 am on Saturday, September 5 at John XXIII in Fort Collins.