Family and friends from near and far gathered at Sunrise Senior Center on Nov. 2 to celebrate the 100th birthday of Lynnfield resident Louise Harper.
Louise Weiler was born Nov. 2, 1924 in Lynn, the first child of Emma Williams and Charles “Norman” Weiler. Her younger brother, Charles (Buddy) was born seven years later. Except for a year in Idaho and a brief stint in Lynn, she lived in her childhood home in Nahant, until moving to Lynnfield in 1964, a place she still calls home.
As a child, Harper remembers the ice man coming to fill the ice box, weekly vegetable and milk deliveries, and a lamp man lighting the street lights. She lived through World War II, the assassination of JFK, and the events of 9/11, and remembers hearing about the Lindberg kidnapping and Amelia Earhart’s disappearance.
After graduating from Lynn English, Harper married Weston Harper in December 1942. She is the loving mother to seven children: Claudia, Stephanie, Linda, Eric, Sandra, Michael, and David, and the matriarch to countless grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren. With her busy and growing family, Louise loved camping, playing games, working hard, and taking road trips across the county to visit Weston Harper’s home state of Idaho.
Louise Harper loved working alongside her father at the company he started, Union Machine Company, as a go-to problem solver and shop manager. The company continues to be run by the Harper family. After her husband passed away, Louise took up square dancing and downhill skiing – as she put it, “I’ve had fun in my old age.”
Louise Harper has traveled extensively around the globe, often with her children and their spouses, including Israel, Greece, Alaska, Rome, Vatican City, Russia, Armenia, New Zealand, Fiji, Poland, Africa and Chile. She said her most memorable trip was probably to China in the early 1970s where she was impressed by the communal way of life.
Louise Harper and her family have been instrumental in founding and supporting the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Lynnfield. She says the church community and her faith have been the center of her life.
