Beloved Leo

This online memorial was created in loving memory of Leo Utter, whose life story is told throughout this memorial website. Please sign Leo's guest book and let us know you came to visit. We will remember Leo forever.

Leo William Utter, a 79-year-old lifelong Seattle resident, passed away peacefully early Monday morning, 7 June 2010. 

He had recently been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. 

Leo was born 28 March 1931 in Seattle to parents August Matin-poika Utter, of Oravasaari, Finland, and Jenny Haglund Lehto Utter, of Melliila, Finland. Growing up on Beacon Hill, Leo attended Beacon Hill Elementary and Cleveland High Schools. 

After graduating in 1952 from the University of Washington, he pursued a lon, successful career as a teacher in the Seattle Public Schools. In 1965, he took a sabbatical year to study and receive his Master of Arts degree from the Teachers College at Columbia University in New York City. 

Leo was also an avid gardener who never failed to mention spring blooms in correspondences with his many friends and family. 

As the son of Finnish immigrants, Leo nourished and cultivated his Finnish ethnic roots. He enjoyed cooking traditional Finnish foods, including pannukakku, and maksalaatikko.

Leo in Tanhuajat, Astoria WA

 He was a member and past president of the Finlandia Foundation Seattle Chapter, the Ethnic Heritage Council of the Pacific Northwest (which honored him with its Aspasia Pulakis Award in 2008), the Tanhuajat dance group, various Finn-Fest USA boards, and the United Kaleva Brothers and Sisters Lodge 11. 

Growing up bilingual, Leo continued studies of the complex Finnish language and taught small classes in his home for several years. 

He served for over a decade as the Seattle correspondent for the "Finnish American Reporter," and had been a volunteer at the Nordic Heritage Museum since 1980. 

In honor of his many contributions to Finnish culture in the U.S., in 1987 the country of Finland bestowed him its Order of the Lion medal. He had also recievd the Award of Merit from the Suomi-Seura (Finland Society). 

Leo was predeceased by his elder brother Hugo August Utter, of Seattle and San Juan Capistrano, California. He is survived by his loving nephew Brian William Utter of Oceanside, California and Jeffrey Lee Utter, of Del Rey Oaks, California; grandniece Christine Aime Utter Sigurdson of San Diego, California; grandnephews Jeffrey McDermott Utter of McKinleyville, California and Jack McDermott Utter of Oceanside, California; and cousin Lena Wirtanen, of Peterborough, Ontari.