Funeral services for the Rev. Matt Leach, 93, of Milo, will be held Friday, August 28, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. at the Milo United Methodist Church. Family will receive friends prior to the service beginning at 10:00 a.m. and a luncheon will be held after the service at the church for a continued time of fellowship.
Memorials may be made to the Milo United Methodist Church.
Rev. Matt W. Leach went home to be with the Lord on August 24, 2026, at the young age of 93. He leaves behind Helen, his wife of 64 years; his five children: David Leach, Debbie Henderson (Gordon), Michelle Voshell (Verne), Kathy Starr (Jack), and Michael Leach (Adele); and 14 grandchildren, if his son Michael still remembers how to count correctly. He was preceded in death by his parents, Matt Lawrence Leach and Lauretta Bardwell Leach, and his sister, Alenda Norton.
Matt was born in Hornell, NY, on December 18, 1932, and, to put things in his own words:
“Like most people, I was born at the usual age. I first saw the light of day in an old log cabin I helped my father build. Doctors used to slap newborn babies to start them breathing. When I was born, the doctor didn’t slap me – but the nurses did!”
“According to my four-years-older-than-me sister, I was the latest model from Sears. She wanted to send me back for a refund. Inasmuch as I came without warranty, Sears refused to take me back or give a refund.”
“My father wanted to name me Rockwell Break-a-Bean. (The day I was born I beat him at arm wrestling.) My mom objected. My sister wanted to name me Brat and continued to call me that for many years. She was quite versatile with a broom. Besides sweeping the floor, she would sweep me out of the house, accompanied with threats to my health.”
Despite that inauspicious beginning, after graduating from Canaseraga High School he was accepted to Drew University, where he promptly flunked out. He then took up Uncle Sam’s invitation to involuntarily volunteer for the U.S. Army, where he served for two years.
After his discharge from the military, Drew University, in what can only be described as an act of divine intervention, accepted him back, and he proceeded to land on academic probation AND the Dean’s List for academic excellence at the same time.
After graduating with honors from Drew University, he attended the University of Iowa, where he met Helen Erickson — or, as he described her, “The woman who deserves every good thing this world can give her.” They were married on July 1, 1962, in Winfield, IA, and attended the Iowa Camps Farthest Out for their honeymoon.
Matt had also been attending the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary at that time and, answering God’s call on his life, was ordained a United Methodist minister.
Over the next 25 years, Matt and Helen pastored churches in Peterson, Correctionville, Lost Nation, and Milo, IA. During this time, Matt also began recording talks at the Camps Farthest Out, which he had been attending since the 1950s, and subsequently started Shepherd Ministries, Inc., a free-loan tape library that later became the official audio archive of CFO North America.
His library still exists today as the CFO Classics Library, making thousands of Camps Farthest Out talks available online for free, with more than 50,000 messages listened to in 2025 alone.
Matt also went on to publish three books on prayer and Christian apologetics and to minister at the Camps Farthest Out and local churches as the need arose — all while driving the bus for Little Miracles Daycare in Indianola, IA, where Helen, the director at the time, finally got to tell HIM what to do for once.
Matt enjoyed spending time with his 14 grandchildren, who were often entertained by his skills as a magician — tricks he frequently used as sermon illustrations. His entertaining way of reading stories such as The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings aloud to the family made the characters come alive and was second to none.
As a family, we will miss him. We will miss his humor and the sparkle in his eyes, but most of all, the great love and compassion he had for everyone, sinner and saint alike. He was, to all of his children, the best example of love that an earthly father could ever be.
