Raymond Lyal LaBare

Raymond Lyal “Bob” LaBare, age 96, of Dunedin, FL, died July 3, 2016. Born July 24, 1919, in Loda, IL to Margaret Doyle LaBare and Meddie LaBare, Bob was raised on a farm in Charlotte, MI, the youngest of 5 children; Arabel, Isabel, Lorrance, and Verne. In high school, Bob joined the Michigan National Guard in 1936. He was underage, but no birth certificate was required, and he graduated from high school in 1938. Eight months before Pearl Harbor, his National Guard Battalion was called into active Army duty in April 1941. During WWII, he served in Alaska, establishing munition sites to repel invasion, and in Italy. In August 1945, his troop set sail for Japan, but the morning of his departure, the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later, Nagasaki was bombed. Bob always recalled a remark another soldier made at that time: “What have we started here?” His troop’s mission was cancelled, and the ship returned to the U.S. While stationed at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri for training, Bob had met his future wife, Floriece “Flo” Horn, on a date set up by friends. They married June 10, 1944, at her hometown church in Desloge, MO, and raised three children: Martha, JoAnn, and John. Post-war and back in the Midwest, where Flo was a rent control compliance officer for the City of St. Louis, Bob attended Washington University on the G.I. Bill for two years. Eager to get on with his life and start a family, he started his sales career at Deere & Company in St. Louis, MO, then relocated with promotions to Springfield, MO; Baton Rouge, LA; Nashville, IL; St. Louis, MO, again, as Deere opened its industrial division, and Rock Island, IL. Over the years Bob’s sales management covered around 30 states. In retirement, meeting new people, he often knew well their small towns in the Midwest and the South. He enjoyed his decades in the Tampa Bay area, especially Honeymoon Island; when he could no longer walk on the beach, he still drove out there regularly. An active parent, Bob helped coach his children’s sports teams and participated in their school, Scouts and church events. Holidays and vacations were with extended family in Missouri and Michigan, and the family had 2-3 week summer camping adventures across the Southwest, Northwest, Southeast, Northeast, and Eastern and Western Canada. They visited all lower 48 states before the kids were in high school. Along the way, John Deere tractors in fields were counted the way others counted states’ license plates, and any Deere dealership en route got a stop-in. With retirement after 30 years with John Deere, Bob and Flo moved to Clearwater, FL, and were active members of First Presbyterian Church of Dunedin and several civic groups. Bob was a member of Rotary and a lifelong Mason. Bob and Flo’s love of nature and their curiosity about the world remained constant. They explored cultures and history in the U.S. and Canada, Europe, China, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand, and South America. In the U.S., Canada and Europe, they researched family genealogy in newspaper morgues, church attics, farm cemeteries, courthouses, libraries, and historical and genealogical societies. Flo kept records of collected and original research to scholarly standards. After her death, Bob led a family project to publish this research and the family histories. Mining Our Past: The LaBare and Horn Family Histories became three volumes and is in the Library of Congress. Bob is survived by his three children, Martha Jane McEvoy LaBare (Michael McEvoy, deceased) of Brooklyn, NY; JoAnn LaBare (Stefan Antohi) of Stamford, CT; and John Charles LaBare (Luana Ponsler) of Ventura, CA; and four grandsons, all of California – Matthew Ryan, Daniel James, Robert Michael, and Brian David. Bob resided at Mease Manor in Dunedin since 2005, after Flo preceded him in death after 60 years of marriage. He remained at home until his death. His family wish to thank so many for their friendship and care: extended family and friends, members of First Presbyterian Church of Dunedin, residents and the attentive staff of Mease Manor, his Suncoast Hospice team and nurses, his Mease Manor home health aides, and all those at his favorite restaurant, Bon Appetit, where he seemed grandfather-in-residence. He was appreciative and courtly to all. Bob’s ashes will be interred next to his wife’s at Sylvan Abbey in Clearwater at a ceremony for immediate family, and the family will host life remembrances with those groups so dear to him. His family is grateful for the heartfelt condolences many have expressed. They ask that those who wish to make memorial contributions consider: The Mease Manor Employees Fund, at 700 Mease Plaza, Dunedin FL 34698; Suncoast Hospice Foundation, 5771 Roosevelt Blvd, Clearwater FL 33760,and the First Presbyterian Church of Dunedin, 455 Scotland St., Dunedin FL 34698. And if you can, raise a glass at Bon Appetit. Slyvan Abbey FH