OBITUARY

Longtime Newport Beach and Costa Mesa resident Lawrence E. Cairns

died Thursday from complications with pneumonia. He was 91.

Mr. Cairns and his wife, Vi, had just celebrated their 70th wedding

anniversary earlier this week, surrounded by grandchildren and

great-grandchildren.

The couple first settled in Newport Beach in 1938, when they bought

one of the original waterfront bungalows at the old Bayshore Trailer

Park.

Mr. Cairns was born in Rouleau, Saskatchewan, on Nov. 6, 1909, to

Church of Canada minister Hugh and Eliza Cairns.

A veteran of World War II, Mr. Cairns got his start in the grocery

business when he opened the first Safeway market in Canada when he was

21. A 19-year-old redhead named Viola Nesbitt worked at the bakery across

the street. It didn’t take long for Mr. Cairns to propose, and the

newlyweds later headed for sunny Pasadena in 1937.

After a series of business ventures, Mr. Cairns decided to get back

into the grocery business and opened his own market, called Model

Grocery, on Mission Street in Pasadena. He sold that market to his

partner and opened a second, called Shopping Time, also in Pasadena. In

1957, Mr. Cairns retired from the grocery business and opened a State

Farm Insurance Agency on 19th Street, where Triangle Square now stands.

The couple moved to 20th Street and later to a larger property at 1880

Orange Ave. to accommodate weekend visits from their increasing number of

grandchildren who lived in town. Mr. Cairns was active at Christ Lutheran

Church in Costa Mesa, where he taught a Bible class and served as an

elder.

Affectionately called Papa by his daughter and grandchildren, he is

warmly remembered as a very active and loving grandparent. There were

lots of family trips to Palm Springs in the 1960s and Sunday drives after

church for hiking adventures in the Cleveland National Forest. There were

also a number of sleepovers at their home on Orange Avenue with its

towering avocado trees and beautiful grounds.

In 1978, Mr. Cairns and his wife retired to Honolulu, where they

enjoyed 20 wonderful years on the shores of Waikiki before moving back to

Newport Beach in 1998 to be near the grandchildren once again.

Mr. Cairns is survived by his wife, Vi; sister Shelia Fraser; brother

Robert Cairns; daughter Chris Kays; grandsons Drew and Michael Lawler;

granddaughters Melissa (Lawler) McLeod and Dana Stewart; and

great-grandchildren Kellie, Scott, Brian, Ryan, and Katie Lawler, Hannah

McLeod, and George Stewart-Walkling.

A memorial service for the family is planned at the home of Drew

Lawler, where retired Christ Lutheran Pastor Lother Tornow will preside.

Flowers or cards may be sent to Vi Cairns at Orange Coast Villa, 2619

Orange Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92727.