Lawrence Walford Lea

In Loving Memory of
Lawrence Walford
“Laurie” Lea
age 86
beloved husband of Rosemary 
dad to Terrianne, Rich, Lindy & Sharon 

Died
October 30, 2018
Boundary Trails Health Centre

Anglican Memorial Service 
Sunday, November 4, 2018
Manitou Opera House
Manitou, Manitoba 
2:00 p.m.

Family Interment ~ 
St. Luke’s Cemetery 1:00 p.m.

Donations in memory of Laurie may be made to Pembina Valley Search & Rescue; 
Box 700 Manitou, Manitoba R0G 1G0, 
or to STARS Air Ambulance; 155 West Hangar Rd. Winnipeg, Manitoba R3J 3Z1. 

Lawrence Walford Lea was born to Ted and Lois Lea on November 2, 1931 at Pembina Crossing, Manitoba.    He married Rosemary Grace Kihn on June 1, 1957 also at Pembina Crossing.   They welcomed daughter Terrianne Carole in 1959 and son Richard Desmond in 1962, and daughters Lindy Marie in 1967 and Sharon Christine in 1971.    
He is predeceased by his parents Ted and Lois Lea, brothers Percy (2012)  and Bob Lea (2015).   
He leaves to mourn his wife Rosemary, Daughters Terrianne (Bob), Lindy (Don) and Sharon (Lorne) and son Rich;  Grandchildren, Robyn Desender (Colby) and Devon Lea (Mya), Jeff Seward (Mary Ellen), TJ Seward (Nika), Nelson Lea, James, Will and Sarah Sharpe, Lexi and Jackson Hacault.   Great grandchildren, Jillian, Jenson and Jasper Desender, Maya and Max Seward and Wright Seward.
Laurie lived all his life on Fairbrook Farm in the same yard as his parents.   Dad loved the land and farmed all his life.  His passion was to work with the cattle and he specialized in the Tarentaise breed for many years.   To the end of his life he loved to pail feed the calves, fork manure and cut strings off the bale shredder, all jobs dad could do in his elderly years.    
Along with farming dad drove the school bus for many years and served as councillor on the Pembina Council.  Dad loved cars and had a great desire to drive something “different” to initiate an interesting topic of conversation
Dad’s other passion was music and in his teens he played instruments and sang with brothers Bob and Percy.   Later he sang with George Sanders, Doc Boxall and Percy Lea in the group The Pembinaires  and with Stew Clayton and the Trailriders.    It was dad’s dream to have a family band and when his girls were old enough we put this into fruition forming the Lea Family Band which included Laurie (vocals/guitar), Rosemary (keyboard), Terrianne (vocals/ bass), Lindy (vocals), Sharon (vocals/drums) and Bob Lea (banjo).   We also had Bill Howatt play with us for several  years and various other musicians.   The Lea Family performed stage shows for ten years and made three professional recordings.   When VHS was becoming popular, we had Greg Currie edit together the Lea Family Video which was a collection of all our memories put together with our recorded music.   What a treasure to have today.    It was an awesome 10 year ride to play together as a family and our group disbanded in 1998 with families moving on to raise the growing family.   That certainly didn’t stop the music and it carried through to the next generation.   Dad’s heart was full of pride while he watched his grandchildren in many musical performances on stage and most recently the Stowaways performance on October 26th.
Laurie and Rosemary enjoyed some great trips with their family, travelling to Nashville in 1988 and then to Nova Scotia/PEI in 2010.  We enjoyed two musical trips to Branson and they made a trip to Virginia to visit Lea relatives in 2009.  
Dad’s other passion was his daily commute to Manitou for the regular coffee shop meetings.   It didn’t matter what he was doing the clock stopped when it was time to go for coffee.    We teased him lots about what the “meeting” was that day – but the sociability was great for him.    
Laurie loved the Pembina Valley, the view from the kitchen table, the rides up  School hill to Bald Eagle in the Rhino, visiting his beloved cattle everyday, being a help whenever there was a job, feeding an abundance of cats and his good buddy Sampson the dog.   
Laurie believed in God and his eventual return home.  He will be laid to rest at his beloved St. Luke’s Pembina Crossing Church that was so dear to his heart and be reunited with his parents and brothers.
Everyone will miss Laurie and remember him as the man with the beautiful voice, gentle nature, devoted husband and father and dedicated valley man.
He died doing what he loved best – checking the cows.    See you later Dad 

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