Richard A. Bechtel | Dairy farmer, 62

Richard A. Bechtel, 62, of Harleysville, a seventh-generation dairy farmer, died of pancreatic cancer at his home on Sunday.

Mr. Bechtel grew up on land his ancestor Jacob Metz purchased in 1805. He attended Christopher Dock Mennonite High School in Lansdale. Mr. Bechtel's wife, Mary Lou Allebach Bechtel, said his father, Jacob, discouraged him from farming, so he took a job driving trucks.

By 19, he was driving tractor-trailers to the Midwest. When his father had a stroke in 1971, he helped out on the farm, but kept trucking. He quit when, while at a Maryland truck stop, he felt God calling him to keep the farm going, his wife said.

It was a difficult decision. Mr. Bechtel told a reporter in 1991 that dairy farmers were like condemned souls dropped through a hangman's trapdoor. "The guy who can hang the longest without choking," he said, "is going to be the one who survives."

Mr. Bechtel was active in several agricultural associations. He served on the board of the Pennsylvania State University Cooperative Extension in Montgomery County and helped open the extension center's office and 4-H Center in Creamery. He enjoyed hunting and collecting, and restoring antique farm tractors.

In addition to his wife of 42 years, Mr. Bechtel is survived by his mother, Verna Bechtel; sons Drew, Jeffrey and Brian; a sister; and seven grandchildren.

The funeral will be at noon tomorrow at the Corner Church, where he was an elder, 1326 Stump Hall Rd., Skippack. Friends may call from 10 a.m. Burial will be in Towamencin Mennonite Cemetery in Kulpsville.