Birth date: May 15, 1938 Death date: May 11, 2024
Laurence James McMahon, 85, was born in Melbourne, Australia on May 15th, 1938. He passed away on May 11th in Tucson, Arizona surrounded by his son, daughter, and loving wife of almost 50 years. Laurence was a mechanical engineer Read Obituary
Dear Connie & Family,
We were so sorry to learn of Laurie's passing. We remember good times with you: stories of Laurie's (and your!) adventures, our mutual love of dogs, and fun dinners together with Lynette. 18 years!!! Thinking of you. May God comfort you during this difficult time.
Love,
Nancy & Pete Hancock
(Sutherland Heights)
I was not fortunate enough to meet Laurie in person but Keith and Beth Clugston always spoke highly of him. Keith took Laurie under his wing at Jaques in Melbourne when both were in the design department. Laurie also worked with my father in Western Australia for a short time. I did speak with Laurie a number of times of the past 10 years and he designed several liners for some of the mine sites that we currently supply. The designs were so far ahead of what the sites were using and the improvements in wear and reducing crusher pain that we are trying to replicate for others.
Clearly a man with so much experience and the ability to think outside what multi nationals produce is why he was so successful
Beth is filling me with many memories of Laurie and reading all these posts makes me wish I had known him earlier
Rest in peace Laurie
My best to Connie and family xxx
It's good to read these tributes, and to know that this brother, whom I didn't really know, was loved and highly regarded ... Thanks to Connie, Bart, Jacinta and family for your love and care ... Joan Beckwith (Lawrence's youngest sibling).
Our heartfelt condolences to Connie, Bart and Jacinta and all the family. It is such a very sad time and I wish we could be there for you. You are in our prayers and we wish you strength and love. It was obvious that he had a great love for Connie and all his family and will be missed greatly.
All we can say is “Watch out ‘up there’ Laurie is coming. If there’s a problem he’ll sort it.”
I (Art) first met Laurie when he became the Manager at Haveluck Mine in Meekatharra Western Australia. At the beginning of one of his usual ‘round the site inspections’ he advised me that his new engineer needed to understand the workings on site better so needed to start at the bottom and he was placing him with my team. I was a bit offended by this as I thought we were closer to the top than the bottom work wise and told him so. Laurie laughed and said we were the hardest working bunch on site and his new engineer needed to toughen up in a hurry.. This was the start of a very long friendship.
We still laugh when we remember Laurie recounting how they came to buy a ‘wonderful Rainbow Vacuum Cleaner’ that could perform miracles. The Hawks were on tv when the guy arrived to demonstrate the vacuum cleaner for Connie and Laurie. He just wanted to get back to the footy game. We think he would have agreed to buying the moon just to get the guy out of the house so he could watch his beloved Hawks. We can still see the laughter in his face and Connie’s, as he was telling us.
We also remember the look of amazement and emotion when he told us how Keela, their English sheep dog, excitedly greeted him after he had been away for a while ( I think for the first time after they had adopted her) bathing him from head to toe with her tongue. He could not believe that a dog would have noticed that he had not been there or recognized him when he came back.. Don’t think he had ever owned a dog before.
Laurie regaled us with many stories about his deep dark past, always with his great sense of humour. He was a wonderful bloke with a lot of intelligence and stubbornness and was prepared to take the world on if need be. If a job needed doing there was a way to do it. He was blessed with a lot of common sense, something sadly lacking in today’s world.
We so used to enjoy their visits down from Meeka to Perth when we would look after Keela while they stayed in town. At some point of their stay we would manage a roast Lamb dinner. Laurie was always amazed how Keela seemed to know at a certain point of the journey where they were coming to with excited behaviour in the car, even when he travelled a slightly different route. We were very sad when they left for Chile and of course then on to the USA.
We really enjoyed visiting with them at their place north of Tucson in about 2005. He took us to see the Gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone and we had a drink in the saloon there, I think it was Big Nose Kate’s. Mostly it was great just catching up with them, with the odd house repair thrown in, after a good number of years of only phone calls. So long ago but sometimes seems like last week.
We will miss you mate and regret that we didn’t get to catch up once more in person.
Rest in Peace Laurie. We will never forget you.
Art and Sandi Verhagen. Adam and Lisa also send their Sympathy to you all.
From Ray Burrus:
We were in Hong Kong and driving to a movie in Causeway Bay and a guy in a Mercedes cut in front of us and took our parking space and shouted an epithet, so Laurie jumped out and wanted to fight the guy. I asked Laurie what the guy said that upset him so much because I had heard him say, “you f@$*# English b@$#&*”. Laurie said, “He called me English”.
So, to say that Laurie was confrontational would be like saying that human beings like to eat. It was so much a part of his nature that every time we were together, I expected some kind of confrontation or felt the need to convince him otherwise.
Laurie had high standards. He expected, even demanded that people behaved the best way they should. And if they didn’t, he let them know.
Another time, we were in a pub somewhere, I think it was in the Philippines, and a guy behind us pushed his chair into Laurie‘s chair so they both stood up and the guy was huge, maybe 6’8”, 300 pounds, with several big friends. Laurie sat back down and asked me, “can you still run fast? Because if I hit this guy, we’re gonna have to run for it!” I was able to calm him down.
But he really had a soft side too. On my 35th birthday he conspired with Susan to trick me into thinking we were just going for drinks when they had arranged for a big surprise party for me. That and many other experiences convinced me that he saw our friendship as something special.
One time we were visiting Japan, and I don’t remember why we were in Japan, but Laurie decided we needed to go for a run around the Imperial Palace. So we were jogging along and a guy passed us and Laurie said, “Come on mate, we can’t let that little b&@$*# beat us. Can we?”
One time, in Hong Kong, Laurie decided that we needed to run a five minute mile. Mind you, at this point I was over 35 and he was about 42. I reluctantly agreed to give it a try. We agreed that he would lead the first lap I would lead the second he would lead the third and I would lead the fourth. We were well into the third lap and Laurie shouted at me. “I’m stuffed mate but you go for it. You can do it!” We both finished just under five minutes.
I remember Laurie as a wonderful big brother. But he lied to me about the Hawks , He told me they were the best team in the league - they were near the bottom at the time (they have won premierships since then And I have moved to Queensland . This makes it difficult to follow AFL. I don't think this stopped Laurie!!!)
I visitted Laurie in 2018 and would come to his funeral if I had a current passport - from loving sister Pauline.
Wonderful memories, treasured friend.
I first met Laurie in 1986 when he was waiting to be interviewed for General Manager position at Whim Creek Consolidated a gold mining company in Western Australia. He asked me what I my job was and when I told him I was a Purchasing Officer he said women didn't do those kind of jobs, what was the world coming to. His sense of humour was one of his great gifts. Our friendship was struck then and there.
Connie, Laurie, Bart and Jacinta moved to Meekatharra, it was a culture shock coming from Asia and Bart and Jacinta were overheard asking each other where were all the cars as Meeka was one street and 6 shops, in the middle of nowhere.
Our friendship grew over the years with work and many meals with the families at Connies chosen Australian Chinese restaurant (Phoenix) Fast Eddy's a 24hr cafe and local pub at Meeka amongst the many hotels when they visited Perth.
Laurie loved Aussie Rules(AFL -he played and coached) was a one eyed Hawthorn supporter (The Hawks) and thought he knew more than the umpire and told them so very loudly.
We went through a Board Room coup together and both lost our jobs. He never backed down from a fight and when the company's security turned up to evict him and Connie from the company house he drew a line in the drive way and dared them to step over it. He didn't blink first.
He was a loyal friend, his intelligence was unbelievable, he could build anything out of anything and design crushers out of love for the job.
He knew how much it cost to produce an ounce of gold every day on the site he ran long before algorithms became a thing. He gave 100% to everything he did, ran miles to keep the demons at bay, loved Connie and his children and their children with everything he had.
I, my children Matthew, Tracey and Melanie feel privileged to have been a part of his life. He is remembered with love, great memories, lots of stories, and when I think of him I see that wonderful smile. May his soul be at peace, he is with the angels and I only hope they can take orders. Angel blessings Sue
