John Henry Lerch

John Lerch had a long, adventure-filled life and died on July 1, 2025 at 84 years old in Seattle, WA. He grew up in Southern California and went to college at Cal State University. His first job was in Texas after graduating college but he quickly returned to the Golden State after a few months. He was creative, curious, and loved to invent things. He had many careers from working at Hughes Aircraft to public relations to telecommunications. These various endeavors led him and his family all across California from San Diego to Santa Rosa, where he started his own business.

He met his wife Carolyn at Disneyland and they were married for 62 years. They even went to Disney World to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary. John was a loving father to his two daughters. He was a devoted father that embraced the animal menagerie and became the leader of the sheep club in 4-H to support them. He was often found slinging nachos with a big smile in the Hidden Valley Horse Clubhouse during the all-day horse shows.

In Santa Rosa, he took up square dancing and spent many weekends travelling to events to dance the weekend away with Carolyn. They made great friends to dance, laugh, and drink wine. John was fun-loving and made sure everyone had a good time. At his daughters’ joint college graduation party, he blew out two blenders making blackberry margaritas for the crowd. He was always the first one on the dance floor.

John was often fixing things and loved to build and invent new things. He built his daughter a playhouse in Palo Alto and a dollhouse in Loomis. At Sun City in Roseville he volunteered in his community doing home repairs and maintenance. John loved his time in Ben Lomand as a volunteer firefighter in the 1970s whizzing through the mountains on the firetruck to help those in need at all hours of the day or night.

He is preceded in death by his parents Ralph and Louise, and his brother Steve (and his wife Mary). He is survived by his wife, two children- Michelle and Melissa (married to Luc), and five grandchildren (Max, Alex, Bea, Amelia, and Antoine). A memorial service will be hosted by his daughter.