Wilford LeCheminant

Wilford Hill LeCheminant, MD, 86, peacefully passed away at home on November 20, 2012. He was born on June 10, 1926, in Los Angeles, California, the oldest child of Wilford Davis and Edith Esther Hill LeCheminant. He resided in Los Angeles until he left for College at age 17. He graduated from Polytechnic High School in 1943 followed by a semester at UCLA. He then went on to Brigham Young University where, after one year, he was drafted into the Army, serving in World War II in Hawaii. During his military time he attended the University of Hawaii in his spare time, and following his discharge in 1946, he returned to BYU receiving his BS degree in 1948. He then entered the University of Utah Medical School graduating in the class of 1951. He completed a rotating internship at Gallinger Memorial Hospital in Washington, DC in 1951-1952, an Internal Medicine residency at the VA Hospital in Long Beach, CA, 1953-54, and Pathology residencies at the VA Hospital and Salt Lake County Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah 1954-55, Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, CA 1955-56, and at Los Angeles County General Hospital 1956-58. He practiced Anatomical and Clinical Pathology from 1958-1971 at Utah Valley Hospital in Provo, Utah, and at South Davis Hospital and Lakeview Hospital in Bountiful, Utah from 1972-1997 when he retired. He was a Clinical Professor at the University of Utah Medical School 1968-1997.
Wil was a member of the American College of Pathology, the American Society of Clinical Pathologists, and the International Academy of Pathology. He traveled often to Continuing Education meetings throughout the world to sharpen his skills and knowledge. He loved to travel with a purpose and traveled extensively. He often volunteered his skills in third world countries, ie, Bolivia, Argentina and Costa Rica with Partners of the Americas; Ecuador and Colombia with the Hospital Ship Hope; Madagascar with Pathologists Overseas. He co-founded and directed Ayuda, a volunteer humanitarian aid project in the highlands of Guatemala and Belize, providing medical care and teaching skills, dental care, health education, agriculture skills, and preparing children to attend school, all via numerous expert volunteers. He believed in teaching people to help themselves.
He met Rose Marie Bell, a nurse at Utah Valley Hospital, just after they both had finished their training and they were married for time and eternity a year later in the Salt Lake Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on January 18, 1960. They became the proud parents of five wonderful children: Alan (Melinda) LeCheminant, Garth (Tami) LeCheminant, Bruce LeCheminant, Rebecca LeCheminant (Jim Nelson), and Annelise (Rayne) Mahaffey, who have blessed their lives with 15 extraordinary grandchildren. He loved his family dearly and was so proud of each one.
Wil had a great love and respect for the out of doors. He frequently took his family on camping trips, often with his brother Blaine and his family, exploring and hiking in southern Utah, canoeing in British Columbia, rafting rivers including multiple 14-day trips down their favorite, the Colorado through the Grand Canyon, in Blaine’s five man rafts. He enjoyed researching pioneer history and published articles in the Ensign and the Utah Historical Quarterly. He wrote a book about his pioneer ancestor’s trek from the Isle of Guernsey to Utah. He loved football and basketball games, ice cream, oil painting, his harmonica, old movies, popcorn, cowboy songs, photography, reading (mostly history), the stock market, and was talented at anything he chose to do. If he ever had to wait, he spent the time memorizing something. He had an amazing memory and a very dry and witty sense of humor. He could recall historical data with ease and often recited the Presidents of the United States chronologically and his Medical School classmates’ names alphabetically just to prove he could.
He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and served in the Young Men and Scouting programs as well as various other callings.
He is preceded in death by his father and mother, a sister Verona, a stepmother, Ileene Waspe LeCheminant, and a second stepmother, Julia Thornton LeCheminant. He is survived by his brother Blaine (Vernell), and sisters, Joyce (Eddie) Brinck, Cleone (Glade) Nelson and Judy (George) Shelby.
The family suggests, in lieu of flowers, a contribution be made to the Humanitarian Services of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Funeral Services will be held at 11:00 am on Saturday, December 1st, 2012 at the Bountiful Utah North Stake Center at 1540 North 400 East, Bountiful, UT 84010. Friends and family may visit between 6:00 and 8:00 pm on Friday, November 30th at Russon Brother’s Mortuary, 295 North Main, Bountiful, UT 84010 or Saturday from 9:45 to 10:45 at the Bountiful Utah North Stake Center. Interment will be at Elysian Memorial Gardens, 1075 East 4580 South, Salt Lake City.
Online guestbook: www.russonmortuary.com