Robert "Bob" Lawrence

Robert "Bob" S. Lawrence 1924 - 2011 Robert S. Lawrence ("BOB") was born March 5, 1924 in San Francisco, CA. He died peacefully at 87 on April 25, 2011 at the Boise Life Care Center in Boise, ID. Bob lost his beloved daughter Bobbie Langmade and her two daughters LaRae and Tina to a car accident in 1967. Later his father Sidney Lawrence in 1970, mother Pearl Lawrence in 1981, and his younger brother Jerry Lawrence in 2007. He is survived by his daughter Jade Bacus and partner Scott Hill (Boise, ID), his son Thad Lawrence and wife Andrea (Caldwell, ID), daughter Sandy Stone and partner Steve Seney (Smith River, CA), his sister Carole Oremus and husband Don (Boise, ID), six grandsons, and three great grandchildren. Bob married Erlene Shipley (Holt) and his first daughter Barbara "Bobbie" was born in 1943. At that time he owned and worked at Bob's Service Station on the peninsula in California as well as set tile for his father. His daughter Bobbie would later give him two beautiful granddaughters. He married Jackie (Broom) and his second daughter Sandy was born in 1949. His love for motorcycles and cars had already been born in his mid-teens. He opened another shop, Lawrence's Cycle Shop in Crescent City, CA in 1952. He then purchased, enlarged and worked at The Hiouchi Inn outside Crescent City, CA; a combination restaurant and motel, and of course a motorcycle shop. While at Hiouchi he met the love of his life Carroll Baker, a fellow motorcycle rider, and he was a great step-father (dad) to her young son Thad. They moved to Boise, Idaho in late 1954 and Bob worked for Boise Stone as a mason/tile-setter. They were shortly blessed with his third daughter, Jade in December 1954. During the next 15-20 years, he and his wife Carroll had several motorcycle shops in the Boise area and owned two bars, along with the tile contracting business. He was on the Garden City Council, and joined the masons with his father. He was most proud of his son's motorcycle racing. Before Thad could ride a bicycle, he was riding a motorcycle and the entire family including wife Carroll and daughter Jade all rode together and worked together. Father and son opened "Thad's Cycle" on Fairview in 1965 when Thad was just 15, and later moved the shop to State Street next to Uhl's and Carl's. The family traveled all throughout the Northwest and California sharing in Thad's success as a national TT motorcycle racer. Bob and Carroll later divorced, but remained close friends until his death. Bob and Carroll's current husband Ron Beigh became friends and Bob and Thad helped Ron learn the tile trade as well. Bob married one more time to Jan Kennedy in 1971. They moved to Ketchum, Idaho in the early 1970's where he continued to run a tile contracting business, always with cars and motorcycles in the background. In 1979 they moved to Twin Falls. There he opened two more motorcycle shops, continued setting tile and did some more car racing. He remained single after he and Jan divorced, but was genuinely liked by the ladies. He would eventually become grandfather to six grandsons, one from daughter Sandy, four from son Thad, and one from daughter Jade. Once he moved back to Boise, he was fortunate enough to spend time with most of them. When it came to his ceramic tile business, he was considered an artist and many of the commercial buildings in Boise had his mark in the 1950's and 1960's. He and his son also set tile together in the Twin Falls/Ketchum/Hailey area in the 1970's and they were well known for their beautiful tile work. He taught many young men how to work on motorcycles and cars, as well as how to set tile, including a long-time friend from Hailey, Greg Onida,who he considered the same as another son. After several more motorcycle shops, used car sales, and always the tile business in Hailey, Bellevue, Shoshone and Richfield, he decided to retire in late 1999. He moved from Richfield back to Boise and lived with his daughter Jade for six years before moving to assisted living in 2006 due to health issues. Bob was the president of the Peninsula Motorcycle Club in Red Wood City, CA and the Del Norte Motorcycle in Crescent City, CA in the late forties and early fifties. He was also the president of the Owyhee Motorcycle Club in Boise, ID for several years and was a charter lifetime member. He was instrumental in getting motorcycle racing on the map in Boise, and helped build the OMC club house and race tracks. Also a lifetime member of the American Motorcycle Assn. His passion was always motorcycles and cars. He probably owned every make of motorcycle you could imagine as well as some of the most unusual cars. Throughout the years he raced both, starting in his teens with motorcycle side-cars as well as dirt-track car racing in California. He competed in motorcycle hill-climbing, raced motorcycles in the Boise and surrounding area, as well as cars in Boise and Twin Falls. His last competition was in the mini-sprints at age 65, when he earned high points for his class. He continued to ride motorcycles into his seventies, even making a solo cross-country trip at age 72. Bob was always a wheeler/dealer, but no matter what, everybody liked him and he liked everybody. He was rarely without a smile on his face, a chuckle in his heart, and a good story to tell. There was never a month go buy that he was not giving someone a place to stay, a hot meal, and a job if he could. He loved music and dancing, and could often be heard singing along with the musicals on TV or radio - he had a beautiful voice, which his daughter Sandy was also blessed with and it became her profession. He was his youngest daughter Jade's "best buddy", and she will continue to ride her motorcycle with him on her shoulder. His son Thad will remember all the good and wild times and the many things his "dad" taught him. He will be missed, and always loved for the "really good guy" he was. Graveside services will be held May 4, 2011 at 3:00 p.m. at the Dry Creek Cemetery (9600 Hill Road, Boise) under the direction of Summers Funeral Homes. A "celebration of life" will follow at Lindy's Steak House (12249 W. Chinden Blvd, Boise) about 4:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to your favorite charity.