Laurie L. Walsh

Laurie L. Walsh

March 17, 1954 – Jan. 2, 2020

Laurie Lynn Walsh passed away peacefully by her husband’s side on Jan. 2, 2020, at Carroll Hospice in Westminster, Maryland.

She is survived by her husband of 47 years, Jesse Randolph Walsh; her three children, Rachael Lynn Lively, Jesse Matthew Walsh and Jacob Randolph Walsh and their spouses, Troy O’Neal Lively, April Lynn Walsh and Elizabeth Jean Cunningham; as well as five grandchildren, Cassie Lynn Lively, Lauren Elizabeth Lively, Alex O’Neal Lively, Maxwell Patrick Walsh and Hudson Alexander Walsh. She is also survived by siblings, Peggy Eileen Crees, Joseph Bryan Crees and his spouse Tammy Jean Crees and Karla Millette Mazel and her spouse Daniel Mazel.

Laurie was born March 17, 1954, in Leon, Iowa, to Joe Bryan Crees and Beulah Maxine Lewellen. She met her husband, Jesse, at age 14 in Seward, and they were high school sweethearts before getting married on March 2, 1972. She worked in two separate male-dominated union jobs in the 1970s, first at Hughes Brothers in Seward and then at Good Year Tire and Rubber in Lincoln as a forklift operator and overhead crane operator, before leaving to help Jesse train racehorses. Together they traveled from New Jersey to Arizona following various race meets and competing at over 30 venues during her career.

Laurie was a dedicated mother who always promoted having skills and interests beyond the routine. She and Jesse always attended every school, sporting or social event and gave full support to any extra-curriculars her children were trying to pursue. She was a skilled painter, potter, gardener, jeweler and community servant. In the 1990s, she donated over 3,000 hours to Baltimore County Public Schools teaching library students skills from handling basic A/V technology and typing to using information databases and surfing the internet at the dawn of point-and-click. During retirement in the late 2000s and early 2010s, she volunteered heavily with the Harford County Artists’ Association in Harford County, Maryland, where she helped establish a gallery and gain municipal funding. Until her passing, Laurie still sold her own designed and hand-crafted jewelry and went for the occasional horseback ride.

In lieu of flowers or other memorials, it is requested that donations be made to Carroll Hospice in Westminster, Maryland.