John Laing ¹⁴³¹

  General Notes:

Death Certificate, John Laing, Registration # 1973-09-003366, B.C. Archives film # B13323

Died Feb 24, 1973, age 78 Winfield, B.C. buried Feb 27, 1973
born Nov 10, 1894, Calder, Scotland, resided in Canada 52 years
name of father Robert Laing, name of mother, Catherine Patterson, both born Scotland
( note: Catherine's name actually was Catherine Louisa Henderson Fraser.. note by jca_
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Obituary, John Laing

LAING Mr. John Laing of R.R. 1 Winfield, passed away at his residence on February 24, 1973 at the age of 78 years. Mr. Laing was born in Scotland November 1894 and came to Canada in 1920 direct to Winfield district where he has resided ever since. Mr. Laing operated an orchard until his retirement in 1965. He was predeceased by his loving wife Clara in 1968 and a son Robert in 1965, and is now survived by three daughters, Mrs. Jeanne Roisum and (Joan) Mrs. C. Evans both of Nanaimo, B.C. (Eva) Mrs. A. Anderson of Calgary, one sister Mrs. Nels Arnold of Winfield, and eight grand children. Funeral services for the late Mr. John Laing were held from the Garden Chapel, 1134 Bernard Ave. on Tuesday, February 27th at 11:00 A.M. with the Rev. E.S. Fleming officiating. Interment was at the Lakeview Memorial Park cemetery. The Garden Chapel Funeral Directors were entrusted with the funeral arrangements.
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Letter from Richard (Ric) Allan Anderson to his family, April 25, 2002.

Today is ANZAC DAY here in Australia. This special day is set aside to remember all those who have fallen in the Great War and all wars. Big parades and a national holiday are evidence of their patriotism.

Near the Upper Coomera Hill about 1 km from my house is a big bronze statue monument of an Australian soldier (a digger) standing with his rifle barrel down his two hands clasped over the butt. His head is bowed and his eyes seemed closed as if in prayer for his comrades, his friends and for all those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom that which we take for granted today. On the marble plaque behind him are the lists of names from around the Upper Coomera who gave their lives in the history of wars gone by and present.

For on this day April 25, 1915, at 5:20 a.m., the first Australian and New Zealand contingent were sent ashore on a far-away beach called Gallipoli in Turkey. Large punts were lowered into the cool water on this spring morning and the sun had not yet risen on this infamous day which would call to glory the honour of men and acknowledge their heroics and steadfast gallantry. They rowed their way into history where the ANZAC tradition was born at a small cove on a peninsula in Turkey. The cove was named ANZAC COVE.

The story is a long one but worth the effort to understand what had happened on that day. The reasons why they fought here have long since been tested and denied and ridiculed but all wars have the same outcome where nobody really wins.

By the end of that day at Gallipoli amongst the spring flowers of blue bells and the purple iris's and surrounding the Judas trees ablaze with pink and purple lie the dead of over 2000 ANZACS and 3-4000 wounded all in a matter of 8 hours and on a strip of beach covered in small pebbles and rock only 600 paces wide. After the eight month conflict 28 thousand men lost their lives and the Turks were just as punished.

The decision was made to re-deploy the masses of men back onto the ships and get out under the cover of darkness in only two nights on December 18 and 19, 1915. The soldiers numbered 80,000 and the Turks had no idea what had happened. They got up one day and all the troops were gone. Not once were the Turks aware of the withdrawal.

The story is bigger than anything I have ever read or heard of, and this small brief doesn't do it justice. But it was a day that the Australians honoured their diggers for that epic battle and for all the other countries that have a list of fallen soldiers, all through Europe and Canada, France and England. The list goes on.

Today I got up and decided to pay my respects and honour a man that was destined to be my grandfather. I put on a nice shirt and tie and opened up the antique wood and glass cabinet that holds the war medals, spurs, picture and letters of our grandfather John Laing.

I cleaned up the brass hatband to a shine and wore it over my tie clip, the Royal Engineer insignia as brilliant as ever. I went down to the monument and gathered with the hundreds of other veterans and their families. At 10:45 a.m. we marched to the monument of the ANZACS. The march was solemn but friendly. The band played, the kids waved flags and people clapped and I felt proud to be there representing my grandfather. I felt as if I was finally giving something back to someone whom I really didn't know and was too young at the time to really understand.

Then in the true Aussie tradition we went off to the pub for a beer.

It was a great day for me and next year I shall do the same. The medals too will shine another day. Until then they go back into their wooden shrine and wait for deployment of duty again next year. Thanks grandpa. We will always remember you and will always be thankful and proud of your efforts in the Great War.

With love from your grandson, Richard Allan Anderson, April 25, 2002
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Letter from Joan (Laing) Evans to James C. Anderson of Kelowna, B.C.

" Dad had a trucking business in Winfield, hauling vegetables and fruit into Kelowna packing houses.
I remember "Long Bow", a Chinese vegetable grower who loved to tease us. He would say to dad " How much you want for the girls? " and chase us with a potato sack. Dad would say " 25 cents if you can catch them ". Boy, were we scared. We worked very long hours in the summer picking onions and carrots in his field, being paid 25 cents an hour. We bought our first pair of red high heeled shoes while working there.

Dave Hill, a cowboy friend of dad, used to deliver the mail by horseback from Vernon to Kelowna. We were in awe of him and his horse. He lived in our pickers shack for several years on & off.

During the depression years, we raised chickens, pigs, and a cow for milk & butter. Fall time was butchering time for the pigs. Mom would salt bacon, make head cheese & can meat for the winter. The cow was bred every year for a calf which would be butchered also. The eggs would be stored in a big crock with water glass for the winter & kept in a dirt cellar.

Grandma and Grandpa Laing lived with us and shared half the house (in Winfield) until they died. Grandpa worked the 10 acre orchard on which we lived. After he died, mom was the one who worked and ran the orchard with the help of us kids. From time to time we were six years old, we had to pick up pruning limbs & pick apples on the lower branches. At 10 years old I was driving the tractor and that seemed to become my job.

Christmas Eve was exciting when Gilbert Arnold, our cousin, would harness up "Lassie", their dog to a sleigh and bring over our Christmas gifts. Donald Arnold, the son of May and Nels Arnold won many medals for rowing in the Olympics and British Empire Games, and has his name in the Sports Hall of Fame. "
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:
Civil Parish of West Calder, Midloathian, Scotland

No. 121 name of house: Brucefield, rooms with 1 or more windows: 2

Alexander Laing, Head, married, age 45, Pitheadman, born Linlithgowshire, Blackburn
Jane Laing, wife, age 39, born Linlithgowshire, Bathgate
John Laing, son, age 15, assistant checkweigher (pithead), born Linlithgowshire, Blackburn
Alexander Laing, son, age 13, scholar, born Blackburn
Jane Laing, daughter, age 11, scholar, born Midloathian, West Calder
Ann S Laing, daughter, age 8, scholar, as above
Henry A Laing, son , age 5, scholar, as above
Elizabeth W Laing, daughter, age 3, born Midloathian, West Calder
William B Laing, son, age 1, ditto
Robert Laing, son, age 1 month, ditto

No. 122, name of house Brucefield, rooms with 1 or more windows: 2

Robert Laing, Head, married, age 37, coal miner -Hewer?, born Linlithgowshire, Whitburn
Catherine L Laing, wife, married, age 35, born Lanarkshire, Glasgow
John Laing, son, age 6, scholar, born Midloathian, West Calder
Andrew Laing, son, age 4, born Midloathian, West Calder
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  Noted events in his life were:

• Immigration, Abt 1921, from Scotland. ¹⁴³⁶

• Residence, 1926, Winfield, B.C. ¹⁴³⁷

John married Clara May Cripps, daughter of William Cranston Cripps and Annie Marie Townsley, in Nov 1933 in Kelowna, B.C..¹⁴³⁰ (Clara May Cripps was born on 28 Dec 1907 in Avonlea, Saskatchewan,¹⁴³⁸ died on 16 Mar 1968 in Kelowna, B.C. ¹⁴³⁹ and was buried on 20 Mar 1968 in Lakeview Cemetery, Kelowna B.C..)