Alexander William Lawrance

Deducation to Alex Lawance Bench Date Sunday 21 August 2011 Information General The Business Community and general members are invited to the dedication of a bench for the twenty years of service driving the horse drawn carriage of Memory Tour to be held August 21, 600- 630 pm in Waterwheel Park, Alex is remembered in Chemanius for his 20 service driving the horse drawn carriages of Memory Tours. For information call Shirley.

My Story about my brother Alex. My brother Alex believed in a man's handshake being as good as a contract.And though he did his best to live up to his end of that contract; he often found out others did not. Yet Alex continued all his life to do business that way. He reminded me most of Dad.

Ironic how I remember Alex best at an earlier age than Ricky. I was about two years old when our grandpa Evans died and as family we had to go down to their farm. Alex was given the task of babysitting all of us out and away from the house until the hurse arrived. Our grandparents had a well trained trick dog and Alex used it to entertain us as we sat in the barn loft . He would get it to run up and down the ladder and do tricks. We laughed , not fully understanding why we could not be in the house. I recall mentioning this to Alex because I thought I was mistaken when it happened and he shared that was then. I recall only the laughter of the ones of us with him up in that loft watching that dog. Alex was the sibling that listened and obeyed our parents the best. He would brag years later how much he showed our parents respect......above the rest. And he did while he lived at home.

Alex had light red hair [almost like a blond hue to it], big brown eyes, freckles all over his face and arms and a quick smile. He was smart, charmasmatic and the bubbly personality won him many friends. He did all his chores without complaint, so he could take part in extracurricular activites and he did. He bowled and was in other events in school. He loved his sports and fun, like sking and tobagganing in the winter, swimming in the slew in the summer, racing horses and any games that was fun. The year that dad got hospitalized for the first time ever in his life; Alex took over all dad's chores staying home from school.He fell out of the loft, got yellow jaundice yet he kept on helping out. He and his friends introduced us to playing hide and seek on horseback and he trained one horse called Prince so well, that no one could find him until he was ready to come out of the bush. Once I got to hide on Prince and he stayed absolutely still. I saw how Alex managed to be the last found.

Alex saved my life once when I was having an asthma attack. He made sure I got my medicine and help me get the relaxed atmosphere I needed at the moment;keeping me calm until our folks arrived back from town to rush me to hospital. Alex was fun-loving and the biggest tease in our family. He was an excellent game player and good sprot, Alex was handy with a saw and hammer, creative making dressers, shelves ..anything needed on the farm. He was in both the dairy and beef 4-H many years, changing his role from member to assistant leader with Neil Moon in the beef club. Yet he had a love for Aberdeen Angus cattle like Grandpa had and began his herd of them while single, at home working as a hired man for our parents.

He fell head over heels in love with a city girl Eve, And they married and she moved into the home he purchased for her in our parents yard. Yet, the farm life was not for her, so she left and he chose to follow her for their marriage sake Yet giving up his dream of taking over the dairy business of our parents did not save that marriage. They had two children and it crushed him that he could not take them with him, yet he felt they needed to be with their mother for her sake as well as their own. He worked as a gas attendent until he got on with the grain elevators. They went through some rough times and divorced. He moved away from Alberta at that time. That was hard on the rest of us who wanted him to stay. While working on the main land [I think it was] he met his beloved wife Shirley who he lived with the rest of his life.I loved receiving the bi-weekly letter from Alex and then later Shirley and writing them. The desire to see Alex was so strong I made up my mind to get to Vancouver Island someday and surprise them after I met Shirley in 1971

and they returned home in 1980 .

Alex's had a lot of hard luck in life. It seemed that he would get knocked off his ladder of success a lot;with injury, handsahke deals that went astray and even losing his home to fire. Yet Alex's resolve to get up again and start anew was there.. and he would start over with nothing and build up again. Alex's family came back to Five Mile for a brief timing going into some kind of partnership agreement with Garth on the dairy business. ..when Garth expanded the operation as he did. It did not work out as he thought it should so they headed home to the Island where he was happiest in his life. Alex tried his hand at dairying many times and finally got established with a small herd of his own, only renting property.And he chose to go with the Jersey cattle. I shall not forget the day my dream to surprise Alex and Shirley with a visit happen in May.With Mom's help I was able to get a hold of Heather their friend who showed us where to go. Alex was sweeping the porch off when we arrived. He looked and looked as if he could not believe his eyes. It took him time before he could speak; as I was the first of his siblings who made that trip to see him. It would not be the last as the next year I moved to Vancouver Island for 3 years.And I got the honor to go on horse drawn tours through Chemanius with Alex as the tour guide. His clear distinct voice made it easy to hear and understand what each painting represented. He called his company Memory Lane Tours.

Alex was an excellent showman of cattle. He showed his Jersey Cattle he gathered up on the Island . Yet Alex would best become known and respected on Vancover Island as the owner of his horse-drawn tours of Chemanius. He used his Clysdales s for that in the summer,, logging in the winter. He also showed his draft horses at many fairs, going in the horse pulls and showmanship. He drove his 4-up teams at most shows. Yet once when I lived on Vancover Island I was privileged to see him drive six horses and win the show. As his Percherons pranced around the ring, listening to his gentle hands and strong voice,my pride in Alex's ability as a horseman grew bigger than it already was. I think the biggest tribute to Alex was his strength of character to get up with courage after each fall and start anew. And it was to his better that he learned to be more laid back about stuff in his life that went astray.

Yet on Vancover Island I saw changes in Alex and my relationship ;I was uncomfortable with; so though I lived there I did not associate with him as much. It seemed I matured in ways that he did not. Guess that comes from living through different things and him not understanding my choices.

We travelled home together for our parents big anniversary. I was glad he got to come home for it. I left shortly after that and returned. One night when Dad was walking through the valley of death, and Alex and family came up for a visit; we had a knock on our door. It was Alex asking if they could stay with us. Of course we replied. It was a great time,with music being played and singing amid the family, card playing and just visitng. It felt like the old relationship I once had with him. When he came home for Mom's funeral, I went with him to view her;giving him the emotional support he needed.

I shall never forget the memory of being called by Alex to come visit him at Qwen's one night about Christmas time after that. He told us how he had the money at last to come home like this. Alex was always a lottery ticket nut and bought some daily hoping for a big break. He was driving down the road one day , checking his tickets. He thought it was another dud and so went to toss it over the seat n his car to clean up later; when he noticed he won big time. I think it was $10,000. He was so shocked he stopped the car and signed it and kept looking at it when a friend pulled up behind him to see what the problem was. He showed his friend. He went home and he and Shirley went to Victoria to collect their winnings. They had a company Christmas party in fine style.

About two weeks later; Shirley was with him and he was scratching his tickets again. And Alex said to Shirley " We have to drive to Victoria to get our winnings." And she thought he was only playing with her. Yet he showed her the ticket and they drove to Victoria to collect the $50,000. I was so thrilled for them they deserved a break. And the first thing Shirley bought was an antique bird cage...

This would be the final time I shared a happy moment with Alex and Shirley in such a way. They came home once for a visit at Garth's bringing Ty with them, It was nice to see them. He began his walk through lung and bone cancer in 2009. He died October 21,2010. A seat has been dedicated in Chemanius to the memory of Alex Lawrance.

The obituary Of Alexander William Lawrance April 7 1944-October 21 2010. Alex passed away peacefully at home in Ladysmith on Vancouver Island October 21, 2010 at the age of 66.. He fought a long difficult battle with lung and bone cancer. He was deeply loved and will be greatly missed by all that knew him.He was prede ceased by his parent Cecil and Mildred Lawrance,his two brother Richard and Lyle. He is survived by his wife Shirley, Qwen [Dean] Mike; Tammy [' Jason; Trevor , 9 grandchildren, one brother Garth {Julie } two sisters Clara , Darlene {Larry} , two sister-in-laws, Gloria and Muriel and numerous nieces and nephews. In his years years in Grande Prairie, Alex was active in 4-H.He will always be remembered for his love of horses and his own well-known Memory Lane Tours in Chemanius that he started over 20 years ago. Cremation will take place and the celebration of his life will be held April 9,2011 Chemanius.