Jonathan Myron Lanphear - Boyd FD

12 December 2002 - Responding to a fire call, Jonathan Lanphear of the Boyd FD, Boyd MN, was involved in a traffic accident. Jonathan died as a result of injuries from the accident.

Services for Jonathan were held at the St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Montevideo, MN on 16 Dec 2002 at 1030. Burial was at St. James Catholic Cemetery in Dawson, MN.

Please remember the family of Jonathan Lanphear in your prayers.


Notice from Firehouse.com

Our condolences to the Lanphear family and the Boyd Volunteer Fire Department of Minnesota. FireFighter Jonathan Lanphear, 23, a volunteer with the Boyd Volunteer Fire Department since March of 2001, died Thursday December 12, 2002. Jonathan was responding to a fire call when his vehicle rolled over in a one car accident at the intersection of Chippewa County Road 7 and Chippewa County Road 15. Jonathan was trapped under the vehicle in a ditch and pronounced dead at the scene.

Our brother Jonathan leaves behind two small children, Brett (2) and Erin (7 months). A funeral for Jonathan was held Monday December 16, 2002 at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Montevideo. Jonathon was buried in St. James Catholic Cemetery in Dawson.


Service for Boyd, Minnesota Firefighter: 'He Looked After People in Need'

BETHANY NORGAARD
Marshall Independent

Jonathan Lanphear was remembered Monday as a man who looked after other people, and died doing so.

Lanphear, a volunteer firefighter with the Boyd Fire Department, died in a car crash Thursday on his way to a fire call. Funeral services for Lanphear, 23, of Boyd, were held Monday at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Montevideo.

"Jon was special. Everyone knew him as kind, caring, loving," said the Rev. Jim Dvorak during the services. "He looked after people in need. He died going to a fire."

Dvorak said people should honor Lanphear by helping others as he would have done.

Boyd firefighters were honorary casketbearers for Boyd, who was buried in St. James Catholic Cemetery in Dawson.

All area fellow firefighters were also honorary casketbearers.

Boyd is a town of about 200 people, a close community where Lanphear's death hit many, including those on the 20-member fire department, Fire Chief Lynell Leasman said after the service.

"Yes, yes it did," Leasman said. "It's still hard to absorb," he said. "We are just a small community. Everybody knows everybody here. He's basically been a resident of Boyd his whole life."

Lanphear had been on the fire department since March 2001, Leasman said.

"He was excited about being on the department," the chief said. "He wanted to learn. He was energetic."

Leasman said Lanphear's sister, Jessica, read a poem at the funeral. The author of the poem is unknown, but she said it helped her understand her feelings.

"I'm writing this from Heaven, where I dwell with God above, where there's no more tears or sadness, there is just eternal love," she read. "Please do not be unhappy just because I'm out of sight, remember that I'm with you every morning, noon and night."

In his homily, Dvorak said when a death is unexpected, survivors often ask why it had to happen.

"(Family and friends) suddenly lose someone close and they, themselves, feel lost," Dvorak said. "There is no shortcut to ease their bereavement."

But Christians can take comfort in knowing they never have to say goodbye," Dvorak said. "Love is stronger than death," he said. "Our love for Jon and his love for us will never die. It lives on in another land."

The poem Jessica read echoed that belief.

"When you feel the gentle breeze or the wind upon your face, that's me giving you a great big hug or just a soft embrace," she read. "And when it's time for you to get from that body to be free, remember you're not going, you are coming here to me." During the funeral service, "One Sweet Day," a song by Boys II Men and Mariah Carey was played. "Sorry I never told you, all I wanted to say. And now it's too late to hold you, 'cause you've flown away, so far away."

Like Dvorak's homily and Jessica's poem, the song also said survivors will someday reunite with those who have died.

"And I know you're shining down on me from heaven, like so many friends we've lost along the way. And I know eventually we'll be together, one sweet day. Eventually I'll see you in heaven."

Lanphear had two small children: Brett, 2, and Erin, 7 months.