Robert John Laurie 5 Jan 1933 - 28 Oct 1986

Robert John Laurie was born on January 5th, 1933 in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. He is the 7th child of James and Jessie Laurie.

He lived in Prince Albert until the family moved to Ladner BC in March or 1937 when he was 4 years old. He went to school in Ladner for the next 10 years. In March of 1947 the family moved to Taber, Alberta. Here he finished school and played baseball. He was very good at it.

In Aunt Ruth was able to identify these team members for the Taber Merchant Juniors in 1954:

Back Row L-R: Harry McKibbon coach, Harry Sekiya, Ray Whitehead, Mr Savage, Casey Anderson, Larry Anderson, Lynn Layton, Ross McKibbon, Dickie Wiest, Van Duncombe

Front Row L-R: Bob Laurie, Charlie Wentz, Gordie Laurie, Bill Burge, Bill Tanaguchi and Lyle Howg.

Bat boy Johnny Konno in front.
(Missing from the photo are Dan Laurie, Bob Furakowa, Sat Muriyama, Marvin baker and Ralph Maier)

Bob Laurie as catcher

In 1955 Bob Laurie suited up for the Granum White Sox. He was a rookie catcher that year. He had many home runs that year according to the website for Western Canada Baseball
http://www.attheplate.com/wcbl/search.html



ALBERTA FOOTHILLS - BELT LEAGUE Granum White Sox : Altman Jack LHP (also Vulcan), Bogal Tedd C, Fennessey Bill OF, Gordy John (also Miners), Ingarfield Earl 3B, Johnson Don RHP, Johnson Roy P, Kucheran Bill RHP, Laurie Bob C , Malarchuk Al, McDonald Jim OF, Odney Steve OF, Pederson John, Pung Hans C (also Picture Butte, Niseis), Stone Frank P, Tarnava Jocko C, Vejprava Gordon SS, Walasko Willie RHP, Walkingshaw Darwin 1B, Wesley George MGR, Wesley Gord 2B

L-R: Bill, George, Bob, Dan and Gord Laurie

In 1956 or 1961 this was taken in front of the Taber home of James and Jessie. He is shown here with his four brothers.
When he was about 21 or 22 he married Bev Barrett. They had five children: Kathy, Debbie, Randy, Robbie and Kevin. For a while they lived in Vauxhall and Taber but jobs moved them elsewhere.

Back row L-R: Debbie, Randy, Kathy

Front row L-R: Bob, Kevin, Bev and Robbie

Bob had many jobs in his life. He drove machinery such as these seeders and tractors.

He is the second from the left in both photos