Walter Eugene Lepeak

Walter E. Lepeak, age 68, of Whittaker, Michigan, died unexpectedly while visiting Grand Marais on Sunday, September 22, 2019.  He was born on July 7, 1951 in Saginaw, Michigan to Eugene and Carolyn (McCarty) Lepeak.  Walter grew up in Saginaw and as a family spent their summers traveling the Upper Peninsula.  In 1962, the family “found” Grand Marais and eventually the family bought property there.  Walter graduated from St. Mary’s Cathedral High School in Saginaw in 1969.  He went to Michigan State University and then transferred to the University of Michigan.  Walter earned his bachelor’s degree from U of M.  He worked at the U of M chemistry lab and then at St. Joe’s chemistry lab.  Walter began fulltime employment with St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in the clinical pathology lab as a medical technologist and clinical laboratory scientist.  It was at the hospital where he met Cheryl Anne Morris and they were married on a beach in Maui in 1998.  They were blessed with their daughter Lily in February of 2000.  Walter was an avid fisherman throughout his life and enjoyed canoeing and puttering around the yard.  He knew all the back roads, creeks, and lakes in the Grand Marais area.

Walter is survived by his wife  - Cheryl Lepeak; their daughter – Lily Lepeak of Whittaker; father – Eugene Lepeak of Grand Marais; siblings – Holly (Larry) Pilon of Ann Arbor, Bill (Sonia) Lepeak of Birch Run, and Stan (Linda) Lepeak of Guilford, CT; brother-in-law – Rodney Berkshire of Boise, ID; mother-in-law – Kathy Morris of Barto, FL; sisters-in-law – Maureen Flanagan of Gulf Breeze, FL and Cynthia Bailey of Barto, CA; and numerous nieces and nephews.  He was preceded in death by his mother Carolyn Lepeak, sister Janet Lepeak, parents-in-law James Morris, Ann Flanagan, and Tom Flanagan.

A memorial service will be held at a later date.