Leo Henry LAPORTE

YARMOUTHPORT - Leo Henry Laporte Sr., 91, died Saturday at Epoch Senior Health Care Center in Brewster. He was the husband of Rosemary Steunenberg-Laporte for 17 years and previously the husband of the late Marie Rose (Fournier) Laporte for 52 years. Born in Windsor Mills, Ontario, Canada, Mr. Laporte was raised and educated in the Chicopee-Willimansett-Holyoke area. He apprenticed in machine shops and became a tool and die maker and a master machinist. In his late teens and early 20s, he was a semiprofessional wrestler in the Western Massachusetts area. He also was a volunteer at Mount Carmel School in Willimansett and maintained the ice-skating rink for the school's skating club. During World War II he worked for companies that machined parts for weapons and other material for the military, at times working both day and night shifts to keep up with the demands of the war effort. He later became affiliated with Crompton & Knowles Corp. of Worcester as the plant superintendent for the Wrap King Division of the Packaging Machinery Group in Agawam. After retiring, Mr. Laporte moved to Groton, Conn., where he managed a bar and grill for a family member for several years. He moved back to the Holyoke area when his first wife became ill. In 1983 he moved to Dennisport. While on the Cape, he worked for the former P.F. O'Connor lumberyard and for the former Cable Products company in Brewster. He moved to Yarmouthport in 1996 and was a parishioner of St. Pius X Church in South Yarmouth. Besides his wife, survivors include four sons, Russell Laporte of Cummaquid, Kenneth Laporte of South Hadley Falls, Rod Laporte of Enfield, Conn., and Leo Laporte Jr. of Belchertown; a daughter, Patricia Montesi of Feeding Hills; two sisters, Cora Senecal of Narrows, Va., and Yvonne Lefebvre of New Britain, Conn.; 15 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. A funeral Mass will be at Holy Cross Catholic Church, Holyoke, at a later date. Burial will follow in Notre Dame Cemetery, South Hadley. Memorial donations may be made to Harwich Ecumenical Council for the Homeless, P.O. Box 324, West Harwich, MA 02671; or to the charity of one's choice.