Death of Laurence Hartge
The Chesapeake 20 Association lost one of our dearest members, supporters and historians of the class. Laurence Hartge died Monday night, January 18, 2010. Here is the message from his daughter and Suzanna Hartge:
Our Laurence left us last night. He died secure in the knowledge that he left nothing undone...peacefully, his devoted family on watch.
What a rich, full life he led.
We were privileged to be with him right to the end.
Our love and immense gratitude to you all,
Trisha and Suzanna
The memorial for Laurence will be held at
Christ Episcopal Church
220 Owensville Road, West River, MD 20778
Saturday, January 23rd at 3 o’clock PM
The reception (immediately following) will be at the old shop at
Hartge Yacht Harbor (the original Hartge Yacht Yard) at the end of Church Lane in Galesville Maryland.
We are planning a celebration of Laurence's accomplished life for later in the spring.
On behalf of the Chesapeake 20 Association, I prepared a resolution honoring Laurence Hartge which was approved by the West River Sailing Association board of directors, and will be presented to his daughter and Suzanna Hartge at flag raising. It provides a brief summary of Laurence’s contributions to WRSC and Chesapeake 20s.
Resolution Honoring Laurence Hartge
West River Sailing Club
Approved by the Board of Directors
January 8, 2010
Whereas Laurence Hartge was one of eleven offspring of Oscar Hartge, who managed the Hartge Yacht Yard from 1934 until 1955, and he grew up on Church Lane in Galesville, Maryland;
Whereas Laurence Hartge raced the Chesapeake 16 Aloha built by Cap’n Dick Hartge in 1938;
Whereas Laurence Hartge won the first Chesapeake 20 Free for All Race in Sea Witch at the WRSC Annual Regatta in 1944;
Whereas Laurence Hartge conceived of building a cruising boat for light air sailing in December 1952, based on designs that he had seen in California after returning from the War in the Pacific;
Whereas at Hartge Yacht Yard, Laurence Hartge build eighteen Quadrants, a 26 foot raised deck sloop that slept four and sailed well, including Queen Bee owned by former Commodore Harold Blood.
Whereas Commodore Walter Windsor asked Laurence Hartge to organize a Cruising Fleet in 1953, and the first raft up consisted of two boats, a Shearwater and the Quadrant;
Whereas Laurence Hartge arranged for the first cruising race in 1953 between Sea Dog, Quadrant and a sloop designed by former Commodore Delmus Stutler;
Whereas Laurence Hartge is a life member and was commodore of West River Sailing Club in 1955;
Whereas Laurence Hartge issued a bulletin on an Invitational Cruising Division on August 18, 1955 in which cruising boats were invited to race informally, but the race committee could eliminate any boat considered too fast.
Whereas Laurence Hartge’s wife, Anne, started the a newsletter Report from West River in 1955 as a tribute to Cap’n Oscar Hartge who died earlier in that year;
Whereas there were more cruising activities each year, and in 1957, the Cruising Committee was made a regular standing committee with Laurence as its Chairman;
Whereas the first cruise week was held in 1957 and, in that year, more than half of the 150 Club members were involved in cruising activities;
Whereas WRSC trophies were presented on Laurence Hartge’s lawn in Galesville in 1959;
Whereas Commodore Harold Blood appointed three past commodores, including Laurence Hartge, in 1959 to find a location for the club, and in 1960, Laurence arranged to release the land from a 99 year lease by John Davis, a grandson of a slave;
Whereas Laurence Hartge gave a presentation on the early years of WRSC when the clubhouse was dedicated in 1963;
Whereas Laurence Hartge has for many years been the historian of WRSC and the Chesapeake 20 fleet, and written extensively for local magazines including “Fifty Years of 20s” in Chesapeake Bay Magazine, September 1985.
Whereas Laurence Hartge was a Docent for the Amelia Island Museum of History, and when he moved back to Annapolis formed the Hartge Nautical Museum in 1999 which tells the story of the Hartge family, the Hartge Yacht Yard, Chesapeake 20s and other historical documents and mementos of West River.
Whereas Laurence Hartge on behalf of the Hartge Family and the Chesapeake 20 Association organized the first major exhibit at the Annapolis Maritime Museum from June to December, 2009;
Therefore be it resolved that the Board of Directors on January 8, 2010 does hereby resolve to honor the decades of dedication and service by Laurence Hartge to the West River Sailing Club and the West River sailing community.
