 Lehtinen was passionate about literature and music.He turned his creative hand to embroidery and the making of traditional Finnish ryijy rugs.Lehtinen wrote two books, one of poetry, entitled "Haaksi Kantaa Yli Kuohujen" (To haul over the horizons), published in Rauma in 1974, and the other an extensive family history that traced its origin from Finnish 16th-century freedom fighter Jaakko Ilkka to the present day.