Agnes Loraine “Lo” Harper, born Oct. 18, 1912 in Gurnee Junction, Shelby County, died Saturday, March 15, 2008 in Fairhope.
She was the third of six children to bless the marriage of Richard and Mamie Jones Harper.
Her father was agent with the Southern Railroad, and her family lived in several locations in what was then a very rural Shelby County during World War I, after which her father was transferred to Demopolis, where she was educated in the Demopolis public schools.
After graduating from high school, she returned to her native Shelby County to attend Alabama College for Women (now the University of Montevallo), but other priorities, not the least of which being the Great Depression, led her to abandon her pursuit of higher education for other various callings over the years.
She had a variety of occupations for the next 20 years, among them working for the American Red Cross in post-World War II Germany, and as an office clerk for a lumber company in Butler.
Her love of sewing, however, a talent which she developed as a child mending and altering family clothing when there was little cash for new fashions, led to her primary vocation for the remainder of her working life as a women’s clothing alterations specialist.
For almost 20 years she was the alterations specialist for Liz ‘n Polly’s Apparel in Jackson, after which she retired to Fairhope in 1974, only to open a thriving business of her own, altering the clothes of Fairhope boutiques and residents out of her home.
She was preceded in death by her parents and four of her siblings, Russell T. Harper of Louisville, Miss., Mary H. Stanford of Birmingham, George H. Harper of Montgomery and Vera Nell Saunders of Lexington, Ky.
Survivrs include a sister, Merle H. Maybaum of Fairhope; and a host of grateful nephews and nieces that will dearly miss their "Aunt Lo.”
Special thanks to the staff and caregivers of Beverly Living Center, Caring Ministries of Fairhope United Methodist Church where she was a long time member, and friends.
The family requetsts memorial donations be made to Fairhope United Methodist Church Building Fund or your favorite charity.
Vistitation will begin at 1 p.m. with a memorial service at 2 p.m. Friday, March 28, from the chapel of Wolfe-Bayview Funeral Home, Fairhope.
Arrangements are by Wolfe-Bayview Funeral Homes & Crematory Inc., Fairhope.
