Obituary of Earl "Larry" Lawrance

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. Earl “Larry” Lawrance, a long time resident of Chetwynd, BC, passed away on Wednesday, July 25, 2018 in Dawson Creek, BC at the age of 83 years.

He was born just outside Shell lake on the farm. Around this point Larry discovered wheels and he had found his love of the road and the many ways to traverse it. He was a jokester at a young age and would develop into certifiable prankster.  Even as a young man he would dig for a giggle by giving his version of supper prayer.

He bounced back and forth between his folks until he was sixteen, where he landed a job in forestry. At some point he stayed with the English family, while working as a mechanic in Penticton for Howard White Motors.  This is where he met Alvina around 1952, and married her in about 1955

Grandpa seemed to be always moving, following jobs to keep his budding family fed. He moved to Kelowna in 1956 where his daughter, Linda, was born. At this point he was driving the mail truck and had a run in with a power pole one night and ended up knocking all the lights out in town.  Shortly after he started driving for McGavins Bakery.

Larry and the family moved to Cache Creek in 1958 and his son Marty was born in 1959 in Kamloops, where Grandma stayed with the Greystons.

Later that year, they moved to Dawson Creek where Barbara was born in 1960, and Sandra  in  1962. This led to around 10 years of trucking and such, spanning from the peace country to telegraph creek. When that was not amusing enough to him, he started hauling up around the north pole. 

One of his most prolific games would be hide and seek, whether it was with the kids or in a big rig. He also took flying lessons and took Marty to Fort St John one day. Then they moved to Salmon arm around 1968, this is about the time he built his own ride on lawn mower,  5 speeds forward in that thing with a clutch to boot. 

They moved to Chilliwack around 1972, where he trucked around and watched Linda graduate.

They moved to 100-mile house next, around 1974 where he was welding, building a saw mill in chasm. He started selling/servicing Russian tractors and eventually having tractors while being involved in the Polaris dealership.  This is where Marty, dad and a few friends started racing sleds. 

Next, they moved to Quesnel around 1978 and started building roads, firefighting and running cats.

This is also where he started running ponies.  I guess he fancied himself a bit of a Charlton Heston or ben hur as he raced around in a chariot. He was said to be impassioned when calling races.  Seems that he had a habit of buying unbroke horses to race, he lined up a chuckwagon and team of horses for a friend of this one time, little did he know that 3 of the 4 horses were not broke, this lead to chaos at the line. The only way to keep the horses under control, was to have them rigged up in a pen and not open the gate till the race was on. He picked up another horse in Falkland, that put one of his friends in the Salmon River and hooked it up to a chariot. The horse was so squirrely, that they had to run it around the track for most of a day before they could get it to run the right direction.

They moved to Williams Lake around 1980 living, with the Namalands while still working the fire line. He moved to Falkland around 1984 with Carmel and hauled hay for Hunterline Trucking. He was back to Williams Lake around 1994 where he was still towing hay around and running cat.

He was back to Dawson where he lived with Marty for a spell. This is when he found his second love of trucking as a pilot car driver.  He would pilot gear from southern states all the way to Alaska, telling tales of past adventures in trucking over the radio as he reminisced along the road.

Then in Chetwynd, he entered his semi-retirement and found the time to start fishing and camping.  This is also about the time he and Muriel started spending time together, which brought her and her family into our lives.  They were fortunate enough to enjoy some golden years together, nestled in Chetwynd mountains and beyond. They enjoyed their camping and fishing trips together, going to music festivals and their afternoon coffee at Timmies. 

Larry is survived by his wife; Muriel Mosher-Lawrance, children; Linda (Paul) Shields, Marty (Barb) Lawrance, Barb (Jes) Adair and Sandra Ladoucer (Brian Hansen). When Larry & Muriel joined in marriage, his family also grew to include; Doug (Holly) Mosher, Kurt (Amber) Mosher, Cindy Baker and Rhoda Mosher. Larry also leaves behind his many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, whom he loved dearly and enjoyed watching grow. 

When all are gathered there are many hearts melding into one family. 

Larry’s family invited everyone to come help celebrate his life on Monday, July 30, 2018 at 2:00 pm at the Chetwynd Fellowship Baptist Church. Pastor Bill Evans officiated. Interment will be at a later date.

Very Respectfully Reynars Funeral Home & Crematorium