Joe Stallings Lawrie[1] was born in Suffolk, Virginia[2] on February 14, 1914, the son of George W. Lawrie and Jennie (Partridge) Lawrie.[3] Lawrie's father was a lifelong friend of baseball player, manager and executive George Stallings, for whom he named his son.[1] Lawrie was raised in St. Petersburg, Florida, and was a 1932 graduate of St. Petersburg High School, where he played football and baseball.[4]
Lawrie was a standout athlete in his youth; as a pre-teen and a teenager, he was a spring trainingbatboy for the Boston Braves.[1] By the time he was in his late teens, Lawrie was being mentored by Braves players Frank Gibson and Johnny Evers, and was permitted to take part in spring training workouts and scrimmages.[1] By the early 1930s, Lawrie was well known as an American Legion Baseball player, and he and his father George were both summer employees of the Braves in Boston.[1][5]
After completing high school, Lawrie attended Louisiana State University, from which he graduated with a AB degree in 1936.[3] While in college, Lawrie played baseball and football, and was the football team's starting quarterback in his final two seasons.[6] Lawrie was also selected for the Omicron Delta Kappa honor society, and was a member of the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps.[7][8] He was commissioned as a second lieutenant of Infantry in the Organized Reserve Corps in May 1936, and spent a year participating in the competitive examination process for an active duty commission in the United States Army.[8] In 1937, Lawrie was one of 50 participants in the examination process who qualified, and he received his regular army commission in July 1937.[3][8]
Professional education
Lawrie's professional army training included:[9][10][11]
In July 1965, Lawrie was assigned to succeed Robert H. York as commander of the 82nd Airborne Division while the division was taking part in Operation Power Pack, the U.S. intervention in the Dominican Civil War.[27] After the division returned to the United States, in August Lawrie was one of the first soldiers to parachute from a Lockheed C-141 Starlifter when units of the 82nd Airborne took part in an experiment to study the feasibility of conducting airborne operations with jet aircraft.[28] In March 1967, Lawrie was assigned to the XVIII Airborne Corps headquarters pending his retirement; he served as acting corps commander until he retired in June.[29][30]
Lawrie's photos were displayed at numerous exhibits throughout the world, and he was also a sought-after judge at photo contests, both in the United States and internationally.[34] In 1971, he was made an associate of the Photographic Society of America in recognition of his work to advance photography as an art form, including his efforts to document rural scenes in Texas before they were lost to population growth and continued urbanization.[34]
In 1937, Lawrie married Edna Dorothy Gilmore (1912–1999), who was known as Dotty.[38][39] They were the parents of three children — Lynn, Heddy, and Bruce.[35]
^Wickham, Kenneth G. (June 22, 1967). "General Orders No. 27"(PDF). Armypubs.army.mil. Washington, DC: U.S. Army Adjutant General. p. 1. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
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