Robert Gerald Letalien

Robert was born on April 12, 1939 to Joseph Alfred Emil (Freddy) and Emma Bertha Letalien, nee Litke, in Waterbury, Connecticut. After Robert graduated from Bristol High School in 1957, he went on to earn an Associate in Arts in 1959 at Concordia Collegiate Institute, a Bachelor of Arts with Distinction from Concordia Senior College in 1961, and a Bachelor of Divinity from the College of Concord in 1965. He was a member of Delta Phi Alpha while at Concordia Senior College.

He was ordained as a minister by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1965, and received his first call that same year to the Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Ferrin, Illinois. He spent the next 55-plus years as a minister. Future calls led him from Ferrin, Illinois, to Grace Lutheran and Trinity Lutheran Churches, both in Hobbs, New Mexico; to Taylor, Texas (St. Paul Lutheran), and to churches in San Antonio, Texas and Saranac Lake, New York. His last years he spent ministering to incarcerated individuals at the Franklin Correctional Facility near Malone, where he lived before moving back to Texas to be closer to family. He received a commendation from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 2020 on the 55th anniversary of his ordination.

Robert was predeceased by Anne Courtney Letalien, nee King (spouse), Christine Joan Deguzis, nee Letalien (sister), Raymon Roland (Ron) Letalien (brother), and his parents.

Robert is survived by his children Courtney Letalien (daughter), Michael Letalien (son), and Stephen Letalien (grandson), all of Texas.