Lauper, Jean Vernon Gordon, 1904-1977

Jean Lauper, 1904-1977, spent her mature years in San Francisco. A lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she was married to Serge James Lauper (born 18 August 1901, Lehi, Utah), a bishop, stake president, and patriarch. She herself was particularly active in the music of the church, and as an enthusiastic promoter of projects and new ideas. She was the mother of four daughters, a creative hostess, and an inspiration to friends and observers.

From the description of Jean Vernon Gordon Lauper papers, 1851-1977. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 81916321

Jean Vernon Gordon Lauper (1904-1977) was a talented musician, genealogist, and homemaker.

Jean Lauper was born on April 6, 1904, to James Frater and Margaret Elizabeth Schutt Gordon in Stirling, Alberta, Canada, the last of four children. Part of a musical family, Jean developed an early love of and talent for good music as well as for sewing, taking over where her mother had neither the skill nor the inclination. When she was thirteen, the family moved to Salt Lake City, where Jean received further musical training. The family later moved to Los Angeles, where she got a job at the May Company and was selected to receive further training in seamstressing in order to provide assistance to struggling customers. It was while employed there that she met a young vacuum salesman by the name of Serge Lauper. The two kept company for over a year and married on October 6, 1929, despite Serge's assignment to business in Oregon. Jean joined him after four months. Later that year he was transferred to Oakland, where two of their four daughters were born. In the fall of 1937, they moved into a custom-built house on 24th Avenue in San Francisco, which would remain the family home for the next 50 years. "Jean's life centered in that home. At the living room piano she worked over the music her choruses would sing. There she entertained company in her uniquely enthusiastic and creative way. In the study she made the endless encouraging telephone calls which kept her projects afloat and wrote letters to her family and friends. In the kitchen she cooked up the batches of brownies and fudge and the decorated cakes for which she was well-known. In the closets was the evidence of her creative and precise sewing. In her bedroom she sewed almost daily, completely cleaning up all evidence of scraps and threads after every use. She would lay out a cut fabric for a new dress for one of her daughters after the children had left for school, and by the time school was out, the dress was often ready for a final fitting. Her stock of fabrics filled drawers and cupboards throughout the house, which reflected her tastes and activities." Jean later developed talent in typing and bookkeeping when her husband started his own business; and when her mother, who had come to live with her, died in 1966 at the age of 100, she became an ardent genealogist until her own death, the result of a stroke, on September 15, 1977.

From the guide to the Jean Vernon Gordon Lauper papers, 1851-1977, (L. Tom Perry Special Collections)