David W. Laurie

CATAUMET — David Warren Laurie, 72, died suddenly on Aug. 7, 2009.

Born in Boston on Jan. 25, 1937, the son of the late Andrew S. and Katherine (Tufts) Laurie, he grew up in Wellesley and lived most of his married life in Needham and Wellesley. He was a lifelong summer resident of Cataumet.

A graduate of Brown School, Wellesley, and Rivers School, Weston, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Bowdoin College. He was an insurance underwriter for Royal Globe, First State, CNA and Reliance Insurance companies before retiring to Cape Cod in 1998.

He was a member of the Cataumet Club and served as its treasurer for nearly a decade in the 1970s. He served on the board of directors and taught sailing in the camp as a young man. As a youth, he won the Hurricane Race for the Cataumet Club and played in many of its tennis tournaments, winning the mixed doubles several times as an adult. He also enjoyed golf and sailing.

For nearly 30 years, he coached the Indians Little League baseball team in Wellesley, launching many young men into sports careers in high school and college. The 1967 team attended his wedding in Grafton, holding up new Louisville sluggers as an arch for the entire congregation. Dave was famous for gathering kids with average athletic talent and great enthusiasm and turning them into a dedicated, well-trained team that year after year rose to one of the top two teams in the Wellesley Little League playoffs. Dave continued his coaching in Wethersfield, Conn., after being transferred to Hartford.

In the late 1970s, Dave was recognized as one of the 25 outstanding baseball coaches of the year by Time Magazine in their national Coach of the Year contest.

He served as president of the Wellesley Jaycees and was elected a JCI Senator in 1974. He was co-founder of the Needham Jaycees and championed a successful campaign to elect Royal Switzler as state Jaycee president in 1971. For five years (1984-88), he single-handedly organized and ran with his wife and the Wellesley Jaycees the Alan B. Holbrook Memorial Tennis Tournament for youth ages 10 to 18. It was a major feeder tournament to NELTA junior championship final tournaments each summer.

One of his joys was playing piano. As a youth, his teacher encouraged him to continue studies into professional playing, but Dave enjoyed sports more. He loved reading about the wars and was an avid collector of paperback books on the subject. Another joy was his rose garden, and he became an authority on New England roses. In Wellesley he procured over 40 different types of roses, which were displayed along the driveway on Clifton Road. He was an avid bridge player and taught many people, including his wife, the tricks and innuendos of the game. He joked that it helped him through college.

He was a member of Wellesley Lodge, AF&AM and of Christ Church, United Methodist, Wellesley, where he taught junior high Sunday school and served as treasurer.

He is survived by his children, Bradley K. Laurie of Bristol, Conn., and his wife Kimberly, Katherine L. Angland of Mansfield and her husband Gregory, and John H. Laurie of Sandwich and his wife Alyssa. He is also survived by seven grandchildren; and his former wife, Christina G. Laurie of West Falmouth. He was predeceased by a sister, Janice, in 1950.

Funeral services will be at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 13, at the Cataumet United Methodist Church, 1093 County Road, Cataumet. A reception will follow.

A private burial will take place at Woodlawn Cemetery, Wellesley.

Donations in David's memory may be made to the Bourne Conservation Trust, P.O. Box 203, Cataumet, MA 02534-0203, or to the Wellesley Little League,,P.O. Box 81960, Wellesley Hills, MA 02481.

For online guest book and directions, please visit www.ccgfuneralhome.com.