Cliff Buchan
News Editor

Bob LaMotte grew up on a farm in Hugo and learned farming as a matter of necessity. When his two older brothers went off to war in the 1940s, the younger LaMotte was left to help run the family operation.

But Bob LaMotte was not cut out to farm his entire life. When his brother Ray returned from the war to open an auto repair business in Hugo, he learned auto repairs at his side.

LaMotte, 79, spent his life working on automobiles. The Forest Lake man died on March 10 in Brownsville, TX, near his winter home in Port Isabel, TX.

By 1950, LaMotte had moved to Forest Lake where he began his career working for a number of auto dealerships here, including the Hennen and Selchow Chevrolet dealerships.

In 1981 he broke out on his own, opening LaMotte’s Auto Service, a commercial repair shop. He operated the business until 1990 when he semi-retired, said his daughter, Mary Carter of Wyoming.

Carter said her father had a life-long love of automobiles and in retirement continued to restore old vehicles. “That was his favorite,” she said of a 1963 Chevrolet that he restored to mint condition.

“He was pretty much a natural when it came to repair autos,” she said.

She added that her dad also had a deep love of airplanes. Had he been old enough for the war, she said her father would likely have taken up aviation in the military.

“I could picture him in a heartbeat being a pilot,” Carter said.

LaMotte details

Robert LaMotte was born on June 6, 1927 and grew up in the Hugo area. He attended schools in Hugo, Centerville and Forest Lake.

On June 4, 1947 he married Eva Lunzer of Forest Lake. The couple made Forest Lake their home while he went to work repairing cars and driving tow trucks to help support the family of five children.

A Mass of Christian Burial was Tuesday, March 20 at St. Peter’s Catholic Church, with interment at Calvary Cemetery, Forest Lake.

He is survived by his wife of nearly 60 years Eva; children, Jean (Jim) Thurnbeck, Mary (Bob) Carter, Richard (Vicki) LaMotte, Ann (Paul Florek) Duren and Fran (Denise) LaMotte; 11 grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren; and one sister, Irene Cartier.

He was preceded in death by brothers, Walter, Raymond and Kenneth and one grandchild.

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