Laurie Sutton

Laurie Oliver Wallace Sutton (13 March 1922 – 18 May 2003) was a New Zealand rugby player and community activist.

Biography Sutton was born in 1922 in Wellington. A keen sportsman and believer in fitness, he was a representative rugby union and rugby league player for Wellington. He was physical training instructor for the local Boys Brigade and later an executive member of the Taita Rugby Club.

In 1940 he joined the army and served in the New Zealand Scottish Regiment. He fought in the Solomon Islands campaigns as part of the 38th Field Regiment. After the war he was an active member of the Returned Servicemen's Association (RSA) and was a welfare officer for the Taita and Lower Hutt RSA clubs and was president of both (Taita from 1973 to 1981 and Lower Hutt from 1983 to 1992). Sutton was noted for his negotiating skills which helped him be an effective advocate. He was the driving force behind the construction of a memorial wall in Taita Cemetery to house the ashes of returned servicemen and women. He also led negotiations for the Lower Hutt RSA to purchase the land on Cornwall Street to build its new facilities. He was a national councillor of the RSA and was awarded life membership of the RSA and its gold star award in 1988 for his services. In later years he became disaffected with the direction the Labour Party's policy was taking.

Sutton died in 2003, aged 81. His ashes were placed in the Taita Cemetery memorial wall which he had founded.