Vesa Lehtoranta’s funeral was attended not only by the family, but by close friends from the hockey circles.
Vesa Lehtoranta was blessed for her last trip on Saturday. Juha Veli Jokinen
Ex-striker for Tappara (1967–77) Vesa Lehtoranta was blessed on Saturday at the Kalevankanka cemetery for his last journey.
Vesa Lehtoranta represented Tappara throughout his major league career. Poleaxe
Lehtoranta drowned at the end of August near his boat berth. The ex-player was returning by boat from the family’s island in Näsijärvi.
– Vesa gets to be with our son and his own parents. Our son died in 2015. I miss you so much, Lehtoranta’s widow Snare said Tappara with an orange flower notebook in her hand.
– Vesa was a gentle and good father. He went to the island alone, but he came back after a couple of days when he reportedly missed me, Paula said with moist eyes.
The Lehtorantas met in 1988 at the restaurant Herttua in Kangasa, where Vesa worked as a porter in addition to his studies and Paula was a waitress. The Lehtorantas had six children together.
Vesa Lehtoranta was 74 years old when he died.
A fatherly man
Widow Paula Lehtoranta described Vesa as a gentle father. Juha Veli Jokinen
The flowers repeated the color theme familiar from Tappara: orange and blue. Juha Veli Jokinen
A good friend of Vesa Lehtoranta, who acted as a measurer, an attacker Martti Jarkko69, left Tappara after years to play in Turku and Germany.
– Vesa was fast and nimble on his feet. We saw his girlfriend from Turku every now and then, the last time was probably a couple of years ago Tarjan Jarkko, who came to the funeral with him, said.
Jarko has ten SM medals, three of which are gold. He is still number one in the scoring statistics of Finns who have played in Germany.
Also a puck influencer-writer Kimmo Leinonen was escorting Lehtoranta to rest in the grave.
Stepfather
Martti Jarkko kept in touch with Lehtoranta even after his playing years. Tarja’s spouse is also in the picture. Juha Veli Jokinen
Lehtoranta was Janne Mäkitalo’s stepfather. Juha Veli Jokinen
The director of the ground war school, colonel Janne Mäkitalo remembered the deceased fondly. He appointed Lehtoranta as his stepfather.
– Vesa was with my mother. He was a stepfather to us children before his own big family, He was a guiding and fatherly man, the colonel remembers.
It rained in Tampere in the morning, but right before the blessing the sun started to shine. There were flowers in the colors of Tappara on top of the Lehtoranta coffin.
The blessing was delivered by Rev Antero Niemi. Pasi Kaunisto sang in the chapel.