Richard Thurston La Prairie (1925 - 2019)

Born 3 Mar 1925 in Timmins, Cochrane, Ontario, Canada

Ancestors

Died 2 Oct 2019 at age 94 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Irene LaPrairie [send private message]

Biography

“Richard was born in a log cabin, one of nine children of a colourful French-Irish Catholic Family.

The family was mining royalty, his father, Adolphe (Lap) La Prairie is memorialized in Canada’s mining hall of fame and the majority of Lap’s seven sons spent time in the industry.

Richard wanted to go to art school, but Lap was fiercely opposed. He was Richard’s left-handedness, his speech impediment and his interest in art as symptoms of a problem that would be cured as a mining engineer.

A degree in commerce and his career in finance were a compromise.”

With his trademark wit, Richard drafted his own obituary: “Mostly forgotten, now definitely gone.” Entertaining as always, but for once, quite wrong.

Sources

• Paperwork from my Father’s Estate, Rene La Prairie 1929-2019, Written by Rolland La Prairie, February 1952, Montreal Quebec, Grandson of Mary Margaret Christian and Richard La Prairie.