Laurence Larry E. Wallace

GRAY – Laurence Elbert Wallace, 91, passed away unexpectedly Sunday morning at his home in Gray. Laurence was born at 11:58 p.m. on December 31, 1919 in Portland, Maine to Elbert L. and Eleanor (Morse) Wallace. He attended Portland schools and graduated from Deering High School in 1938. He was the middle child of seven children born to Elbert and Eleanor all of whom have lived into their 80s and 90s.

Laurence was a veteran of World War II and was in the second D-Day wave to land on the beaches of continental Europe. After returning stateside at the end of the war, he met and married Carleen Casparius and was married for 62 years until Carleen passed away in February of 2010.

After WW II, Laurence worked as a licensed steam plant operator at the old Portland City Hospital and later at Mercy Hospital on State Street in Portland. He was on duty in the boiler room at Mercy at the time his wife was giving birth to their daughter in the maternity ward upstairs.

Laurence was a talented artist and musician who used his artistic skills to work for many years in his career as a graphics designer, mapmaker and printer. He painted in oils and pastels his entire life both on commission and for fun. His mural of the “Hunnewell House” still graces the wall behind the customer service counter at the Scarborough Post Office. He entertained children and church groups with his “chalk talks” where he would draw a mural on a sketchpad with chalks to illustrate a story as the story was being read. He and his siblings were skilled wood carvers who delighted in challenging one another to carve the most difficult thing resulting in everything from lengths of wooden chains to bas-reliefs and statuary. Laurence was an avid photographer. He provided the photography used by the Portland City Planning Department during the 1950s and 1960s. He had his own dark room and developed his own film and black and white photographs.

His musical talents were expressed as a stand-up bass player starting with his high school orchestra, several blue grass and mountain music bands in the 1930s and 1940s and with several big band dance bands into the 1960s and early 1970s. Laurence was strong in his religious faith and was a bass singer and soloist in the choirs of many Portland area churches. He and his siblings often sang as a musical group when their organist mother Eleanor played at various local churches. He and his wife Carleen performed as soloists and in duets for the many fraternal organizations of which they were members over the years.

Having grown up in the Great Depression, Laurence was a strong believer in “Use it up, wear it out, and make it do or do without.” He was inventive and clever and could repair most anything that needed to be fixed. He taught his children the benefits of being frugal and taking care of the things you have and being inventive as an approach to solving problems. His creative nature was always evident through many years of family camping trips where he would have more ways to hang a tarp, light a fire and win at rummy than on any present day survivor reality TV show.

Laurence is survived by his three children, son David and his wife Katherine of Gorham, son Neil and his wife Susan of New Gloucester and daughter Susan Wilson of Gray, eight grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. His sister Dorothy Kemp of Rye, NH, brother Carol of Yarmouth and sister Rosalie MacCormack of Cumberland also survive him. His parents predeceased him, as did his wife Carleen, his sister Barbara Knox and brothers Robert and Donald.

A celebration of Laurence’s life and an informal service of appreciation will be held at Lindquist Funeral Home at One Mayberry Lane in Yarmouth on Saturday 22 October 2011 from 3:00 to 5:00 pm. The celebration will close with informal remarks from Laurence’s family and then a formal military honor guard ceremony. Please visit www.lindquistfuneralhome.com to share your condolences, memories and tributes with Laurence’s family.