Remembering Richard Lehn and Jerry Wetzstein

Richard Lehn (left) and Jerry Wetzstein (right)

By Ed Schneeberger,

President-elect, Downey Noon Kiwanis

DOWNEY - Within a span of two weeks, Downey lost two of its brightest philanthropic stars in Richard Maximilian Lehn and Jerry Wetzstein.

Both died of natural causes, Lehn on July 7, and Wetzstein on July 20. Both were members of the Downey Noon Kiwanis Club at the times of their deaths; Dick in his 53rd year and Jerry in his 34th year in Kiwanis.

Both were military veterans: Lehn with the U.S. Navy and Wetzstein with the U.S. Marine Corps. Both created economic success through private business, and each dedicated his life to improving the lives of others in Downey and elsewhere.

Lehn, along with Dick Holmes and Chuck Pifer, was an incorporator of the Downey Kiwanis Foundation in 19856 and was largely responsible for the Foundation’s growth to a corpus of almost $8 million. Until his health concerns became too great six months ago, Lehn was on the board of directors of the Downey Kiwanis Foundation since its inception.

Wetzstein, although a Downey resident, joined the South Gate Kiwanis Club in 1988. When the South Gate Club folded in 2003, he joined Downey Noon Kiwanis. He was a past president of both clubs, and at his death, was president of the Downey Kiwanis Foundation and a director of Downey Noon Kiwanis as well. During his leadership of Downey Kiwanis Foundation since 2008, over $2,275,000 has been awarded in scholarships and grants to students and organizations in the Downey community.

Both men came from humble backgrounds. Lehn was raised in a Catholic orphanage in Wisconsin and became determined at a very young age to seize opportunity when it presented itself. From high school, Lehn went to the University of Wisconsin on an NROTC scholarship. Graduating from college in 1960, he parlayed his military service as an officer in the U.S. Navy into his admission to Los Angeles Loyola Law School, where he was on the staff of the Law Review. Comparing the winters in Southern California and Wisconsin, Lehn opened a law practice in Downey, where he ultimately became partners with Haygood Ardis.

He became active in real estate, investments, banking, ranching, and small business. In Downey Kiwanis lore, the relationship between Ardis and Lehn is legendary. Jules Ardis, an attorney and founding member of the firm, was the first president of Downey Kiwanis. Jules’s son, Haygood Ardis, was in Downey Kiwanis and convinced Lehn to join in 1970. His son, Rich, joined the firm and Downey Kiwanis as well, and is still a member of Downey Noon Kiwanis. All told, a member of the Ardis/Lehn firm has been in Downey Noon Kiwanis since its inception in 1924. At his death, Lehn was the longest standing member of Downey Noon Kiwanis.

Wetzstein grew up on a farm outside Barnesville, Minnesota and once commented that when he was in high school, all he cared about was “raising champion pigs and playing basketball.” After graduation, he joined the Marines. During that time, he was stationed in Japan, where he became fluent in Japanese. Like Lehn, Wetzstein’s military service led him to Southern California, and he, too, found life in Southern California much more desirable than the rather harsh conditions of Minnesota. Wetzstein owned and operated a series of delis in the Downey/Long Beach area and, ultimately, found job satisfaction in selling medical insurance.

Once when asked why he did not retire, Wetzstein responded that he found great pleasure in helping others to find insurance plans that would guarantee that they would receive quality medical care. He fought valiantly through the bureaucratic tape of Medicare and Obamacare on behalf of clients, believing all the while that good health care was indeed a right of all persons living in the United States.

Both Wetzstein and Lehn were joined at the hip by Downey Kiwanis and the charitable goals of the organization. A large portion of the Downey Kiwanis Foundation scholarship fund was the result of Lehn’s orchestration. Since 2008, that fund alone has awarded over $625,000 n college scholarships to Downey students. Since Wetzstein became president of the Downey Kiwanis Foundation, the following grants have been recorded by Foundation Treasurer Gary Nesbit: over $339,000 in grants to the Downey Unified School District; over $287,000 in playground equipment to the City of Downey and the Columbia Museum; and over $221,000 to the Downey Symphonic Society. Other significant recipients of the Foundation’s grants are ARC, Downey YMCA, Rancho Los Amigos Foundation, and the Kiwanis International Children’s Fund, just to name a few.

This duo’s involvement was not restricted to Kiwanis. Lehn was involved with the University of Wisconsin Alumni Association, Sisters of Notre Dame in Uganda, Father Joe’s Orphanage and School in Peru, and in the Illuminations Charity for the Homeless. He and his wife, Clarice, hosted a legendary fundraiser, Paris in Newport, for Downey Noon Kiwanis’s UNICEF Project at their home in Corona Del Mar. Wetzstein, too, was on the boards of the Downey Foundation for Educational Opportunities, and the Rancho Los Amigos Research Foundation. He was a member of both the Downey and Santa Fe Springs Chambers of Commerce. He and his wife, Connie, were involved in many charitable ventures throughout the City of Downey.

“It is virtually impossible to fill the shows of Dick Lehn and Jerry Wetzstein,” admitted Downey Noon Kiwanis President Stephen Chu. “We know that these two giants cannot be replaced. The challenge is for us to live up to the legacy that each one of them left for us. And we must be ready to meet that challenge.”