Goldfield pioneer Labarthe dies at 95

Friday, July 15, 2005 | 9:53 a.m.

When the Goldfield Volunteer Fire Department celebrated its 100th birthday on July 4, it had planned to honor Las Vegan Laurence B. "Frenchy" Labarthe as the department's longest surviving ex-firefighter.

"He was so excited to be recognized," said niece Aleta Daniels of Las Vegas. "He started recalling the fires they had fought in the 1920s. He said they always strived to save the red light district where the brothels were because that's where the town's revenue was."

But after a robust life that had included 35 years at sea as a Merchant Marine, Labarthe suffered a stroke four days before the ceremony in the historic Esmeralda County community 180 miles northwest of Las Vegas and was unable to attend. His family accepted the honor on his behalf.

Later that day, at Kaiser Hospital in San Francisco, Labathe died one day shy of his 96th birthday.

It ended the saga of a colorful central Nevada figure whom friends and family are remembering as a handsome ladies' man, a member of a pioneering business family and a witness to the great Goldfield fire of 1923 that destroyed 23 blocks of what was in Labathe's youth the state's largest city.

There will be no local services for Labarthe, who for 20 years, starting in the 1980s, had dual residency in San Francisco and Las Vegas.

A private burial at sea is scheduled for later this month by the Marine Fireman Union of San Francisco.

Daniels said her uncle as a young man was a dashing figure, the son of French immigrants who spoke six languages fluently.

"We used to tease Uncle Frenchy by asking him if he had a girl in every port," Daniels said. "He said 'yes, but she has a boyfriend on every ship.' "

Labarthe was a lifelong bachelor.

Goldfield Fire Chief Mike Anderson said Labarthe became assistant fire chief at age 19 and held the post two years. His salary was $75 a month and he lived in the fire station.

An oral history by Labarthe's late brother Alexander, on file at the Central Nevada Museum in Tonopah, said Laurence, before joining the fire department, witnessed from his home the historic 1923 fire that destroyed much of the town's business district.

Born July 5, 1909, in Stockton, Calif., to Antone Labarthe and the former Grace Isaacq, Labarthe was brought to Goldfield when he was three days old. At the time, the city was the largest in Nevada. The town had been founded seven years earlier after gold was discovered there and became a mining boomtown.

Labarthe's family long operated the Goldfield French Laundry, where a young Labarthe worked after school. He graduated from Esmeralda High School.

As a member of the Merchant Marines, Labarthe served during World War II on cargo and passenger ships that had been converted into troop carriers.

Labarthe is survived by 13 cousins. He was preceded in death by Alexander in 1995 and by his sister, longtime Las Vegan Marie Schneehagen, in 1997.

Labarthe's family said donations can be made in Laurence Labarthe's memory to the Central Nevada Museum, PO Box 326 Tonopah, NV 89049.