Richard Shuté might just seem like a giving Latter-day Saint who spends his days baking and crocheting to bless missionaries. But, the trials he faces in his life and his incredible conversion to the Church show there is much more to Shuté than meets the eye.
The aroma of fresh, warm bread fills Richard Dean Shuté’s small apartment as he lifts five loaves out of the hot oven and carefully dumps them out of their pans onto his kitchen counter.
Known as “The Bread Man” to hundreds of young men and women serving their two-year missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in this part of Louisiana, Shuté, 75, estimates he’s baked about 37,500 loaves of bread over the past 32 years.
He sorts through the cooling loaves and selects the best one for sacrament at Sunday’s service at the LDS Church and Temple on Highland Road. Then he sorts through five loaves baked earlier that day and gives one each to visiting Elders Christian Lisonbee and Nathan Lyons, both 20, to take with them. The rest along with more loaves he’ll bake throughout the week, he’ll take to Sunday services and give to visitors and friends.