Obituaries: Laurence (Laurie) M. Cashin

CASHIN, Laurence M. (Laurie)– Passed away at his home in St. John’s on March 18, 2008. He was predeceased by his parents Laurence V. Cashin of Cape Broyle and Anna (Hearn) of Bay Bulls. He is survived by his wife Carmel Bailey and his sons Anthony (Lisa), Peter (Edwina Toope) in Kitchener, Ontario and P.O. Martin with the Canadian Navy in Halifax; three grandchildren Antoinette, Michael and Bianca and his brother Richard (Patricia Canning). He was a graduate of Memorial and Harvard University. He worked in the private sector in Manitoba, Ontario and Newfoundland. He retired from the Federal Public Service in 1991 having served primarily with the Department of Regional Development and Economic Expansion. The great cause of his life was with the Deaf Community. In 1969 he served as President of the Metro Toronto School for the Deaf Parents’ Association. In the early 1970’s he was a founding member of both the Canadian Co-ordinating Council on Deafness and the Newfoundland Co-ordinating Council (NCCD) on which he served as president from its founding to 1989 when he retired due to ill health. Among his major accomplishments were negotiating the assumption of financial liability for the operation of the TTY/TDD emergency phone service by the Province. He was responsible for getting the RCMP to set up a National 1-800 emergency service for TTY/TDD users. He obtained the first Closed Caption TV decoder in Canada and arranged for the local cable company to provide this service on a special channel for Deaf and Hard of Hearing users. He was also successful in having Closed Caption service provided by all Canadian TV channels. He established and trained sign language interpreters for work in the legal, employment and medical areas. Following the training, NCCD ran a successful interpreting service. He was instrumental in supporting the creation of the Newfoundland Branch of the Canadian Hard of Hearing Organization. Perhaps his most significant effort was being the driving force for improvement in facilities, staffing and educational content for the first school for the Deaf and the creation of the School for the Deaf on Topsail Road is a testament to the success of these efforts. An ardent sailor most of his life, upon retiring he became a most active amateur radio operator. As part of this hobby, he became involved in the development of the capacity to send and receive E-mail through High Frequency Radio links. He was a major player in the development of a network of stations available for emergency communication in this Province. The system has performed well over a number of years. In 2005, he was awarded the Governor General’s Caring Canadian Award. A special thanks to his attending physician, Dr. Patrick O’Shea. Cremation has taken place. Visitation from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. on Thursday and Friday at Carnell’s Funeral Home, 329 Freshwater Road. Funeral service will be held on Saturday, March 22, 2008 at 11:00 a.m. from the Carnell Memorial Chapel. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Lung Association of NL or the Organ Procurement Exchange of NL. To send a message of condolence or to sign the memorial guest book, please visit www.carnells.com.