Henry David Letkemann, the youngest son of Peter and Aganetha Letkemann was born on August 16, 1933 in Renata, BC, a small farming community on the Lower Arrow Lake in southern, BC. He grew up on a farm, his father having an orchard. In his later teen years David spent two summers on a Forest Service fire lookout. In winter David had a trap line as well as he enjoyed hunting and fishing.
In his mid twenties he accepted Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. In 1958, with the encouragement of Christian friends, David attended Bethel Bible Institute in Abbotsford, where he met his future wife, Sara. After Graduation in 1961, David returned home and worked in a sawmill near Nelson, BC, for four years as a log scaler. In 1965 he received a call to become Pastor of Peardonville Mennonite Church in Aldergrove, BC. There he met Sara again and they were married in November 1965.
After two years as a Pastor, David felt the need for further education, and so he enrolled in the Canadian Mennonite Bible College in Winnipeg where he took classes for two years. David was then called to a Pastorate in Saskatoon, SK, where he served for five years. By then their chosen family was complete; Geoffrey, Gregory and Gwenda.
It was here that the words of the prophet Isaiah came back to David “Whom Shall I send, and who will go for us? And I answered, “Here am I Lord, send me” With that call from God, David and Sara applied to the Mennonite Mission board and were accepted to serve in Bolivia. After a term in seminary in Elkhart, Indiana and a year of language training in Costa Rica they started working in Santa Cruz, Bolivia as church planters. It was an enriching experience for the whole family. After two terms on the mission field, they returned to Canada, where David was called to Pastor at the Bergthal Mennonite Church near Didsbury. David and Sara served there from 1982 – 1987, they then moved to Camrose where they lived for 11 years. After a few years in Bowden, David and Sara returned to Didsbury where David retired. He is lovingly remembered by his wife, Sara; children, Geoff, Greg (Carmel); five grandchildren, Stephanie, Sydney, Jace, Daylin and Kyle; four great-grandchildren, Roxane, Luke, Margo Dyck and Michelle Johnson. David is predeceased by his parents, Peter and Anna; siblings, Maria and Margaret; and by his daughter, Gwenda. Messages of condolence may be left for the family at www.myalternatives.ca.
