Life History of Serge J. Lauper
I had been a bishop in the Sunset Ward for about five years, and during that time we had worked and completed the Sunset building. Shortly after the building had been dedicated, on June 14, 1941, a change in the Stake Presidency took place. Stephen H. Winter was succeeded by Howard McDonald, who served the comparatively short period of about a year, before being released and moving away from San Francisco, to be President of the Salt Lake Temple. The new President of the Stake was Claude Petersen, who was a brother of Mark E. Petersen, one of the members of the Council of the Twelve. He chose as his first counselor George Schiess who also lived down the peninsula, not too far from where he lived, and I was called as the second counselor. And then again, by a strange coincidence, it so happened that Stephen L. Richards was the man on the scene to set us apart. I think one reason, as I later found out that he came here more often than some of the other General Authorities, was that he had a daughter in Palo Alto.
A stake conference was in session, and we all knew that a change would be made. I had had no information at all that I was to be a counselor in the stake presidency because I was serving as the bishop of the new building in Sunset Ward. I always held the opinion that bishops were the important part of the church authority because they were the men on the scene and able to get closer to the people and to make changes. Theoretically the bishop could go to Church on Sunday morning and release every one of his officers in the ward; he could then call new officers before the meeting was over. That is only an example of his ability to make changes. He would ordinarily consult his Stake President in making changes, but not always. However, a Stake President had to meet with his counselors and then with the high council and then he had to go to every one of the wards because a member of the stake is also a member of a ward. He had to be in harmony with the various wards before his officers can be chosen for the stake.
On that particular day, I was called into the stake president's office and Stephen L. Richards told me that I had been selected and chosen to be the second counselor to the Stake President Claude Petersen. When he asked me what I thought of that, I said that I didn't think that there was anyone more important than a bishop. I remember telling him that, and he did not favor that remark at all. He said, "Well, a president calls and releases bishops." Anyway, I was called to be the counselor in the Stake Presidency of the San Francisco Stake and served in that position as second counselor for five years. Then the Palo Alto Stake was organized, and Claude Peterson was called to be the Stake President of the Palo Alto Stake which no longer included our San Francisco Wards.
At that time, one of our high councilmen was chosen to be stake president, a man by the name of J. Bryon Barton. I had made the comment a year or so before when J. Bryon Barton had first moved to our stake, that I was of the opinion that he would be the next stake president. He was the officer in charge of the San Francisco office of the FHA with some 300 people under his supervision.
Well, I was not released from the presidency when the change was made, but I was called to be the first counselor to J. Bryon Barton. I think of all my church work and all my experience of working in the church that I never enjoyed anything as much as I did working with him. We worked together for five years, until he developed a serious heart condition. His health required that he be released. Henry D. Moyle and Clifford E. Young were sent down from the General Authorities to make that change, and they interviewed some forty different members in the San Francisco Stake, counselors, bishops, and other stake leading people. I thought that I was certainly being released then, after having been in the presidency for ten years. But, later on in the evening after the many, many interviews, Henry D. Moyle and Clifford E. Young, who were the visitors, called me over to the office at the Sunset Ward. When I got there, they told me that I had been approved by the Presidency of the Church, and they had made it a matter of prayer, and they had made the recommendation, and President McKay had approved it, to call me to be the President of the San Francisco Stake. Then Henry D. Moyle said, "Well, Lauper, what did you think when you were released from your position as the second counselor years ago and we called a man from the High Council to be president of the stake?" I said, "Well, I thought at the time that if I was worthy to be a counselor, having had that experience, I was worthy to take over the stake. But later on, after working with J. Bryon Barton, I felt that I understood why he had been called. He was the man to be president at that time, and he did a good job. I enjoyed working with him."
My wife Jean used to write a column of news from the San Francisco Stake for The Messenger, a little Church newspaper published in Oakland. My brother Dennis was very instrumental in publishing the paper and my brothers Marcel and Ralph used to help support it with advertising. Jean wrote a piece about the change in the stake presidency which I will quote here.
At the recent Stake Conference, October 11 and 12, the visiting authorities effected a change in the Stake Presidency. After 6 years of leadership, J. Bryan Barton and his counselors, Serge J. Lauper and Ira I. Somers were released. Immediately following, Serge J. Lauper was sustained as president with Ira I. Somers as first and Wilford B. Murray as second counselors. Herman Schettler will continue to serve as stake clerk. President Lauper has had the opportunity of serving under every president of the San Francisco Stake. Under W. Aird McDonald he was Bishop of Dimond ward in Oakland for 5 years, then moving to San Francisco he was called by Stephen H. Winter to be Bishop of Sunset Ward, during which time the beautiful stake house and Sunset Ward chapel was erected. While he was still bishop, Howard MacDonald became Stake President. Claude Peterson was the next president and Elder Lauper was appointed his second counselor, a position he filled for 5 years. Ira Somers was called from the High Council to fill the position of second councilor under President Barton, and now Wilford B. Murray has been called from the High Council to the same position under President Lauper.
I'll have more to say about that evening later on. I served as a stake president for seven more years and had ups and downs and overs and all that goes on in a stake and in operating my own business.
In the early part of 1949, I did something completely out of character. I like to have control over situations, and I don't like to take chances. When I was first counselor in the San Francisco Stake Presidency, I attended my own Sunset Ward one Sunday. As I came into the chapel, I saw a young woman standing in the foyer. She was neatly dressed, not exactly beautiful, but good looking and attractive, probably in her early twenties. I introduced myself, and she said that she was a member of the Church visiting in San Francisco for a few days, the secretary of a labor union committee from Canada.
After Sunday School, I introduced her to my wife Jean who invited her home for Sunday dinner. The young woman, Renee C. Argault, explained that she and her mother had joined the Church in France and immigrated to Canada. They had wanted to come to the United States, but had been unable to do so because they had no sponsor. She had only a temporary visa. Then I spoke the rash, if not foolish, words: "I will sponsor you."
Jean asked me if I knew what was involved. I had some vague idea. I realized that I would be assuming financial and moral responsibility for someone I had met only a few hours before. Many papers were required to be the legal sponsor, and I worried that what I had done was foolish and irresponsible.
Actually, it all turned out very well, and I was reminded of the incident recently when I came across a copy of the Affidavit of Support and some of the other legal papers I supplied to the immigration authorities.
One day a car drove up, and Renee C. Argault, with a handsome young man and two children, came calling. I think it was in 1957 or 1958, eight or nine years after our original meeting. At the time she wrote these words in my blessing book: "All these years I thought a lot about you, and it is hard to explain my gratitude. It has been a wonderful experience to come and stay in the United States. I'll always remember you, so will my family. With all my love, Renee." I wish I had kept in touch. I wish I knew more about Mrs. Renee Tennyson Smith.
I was approaching my retirement days soon after the temple was opened in Oakland. I was approached about being an ordinance worker then, and I put in at least one day a week from the early days. Then, President Wright, the first temple president, came to me one day and asked if I would be one of the sealers of the Oakland Temple. Most everyone would be anxious to have that assignment, but I postponed it and said I was not ready yet.
About a year later, he brought the subject up again. So I accepted. Part of the procedure was to report to Salt Lake and have President McKay set you apart as a sealer in a specific temple. That had to be done by one of the church authorities. For many years, only the president of the church took that assignment. As the church has grown and multiplied with so many temples, that is no longer the practice of the church. Many of the offices have been delegated to other authorities.
It so happened that when I came to Salt Lake, President McKay was in his later years, and he assigned that responsibility to Joseph Fielding Smith, one of his counselors. Joseph Fielding Smith set me apart to be a sealer in the Oakland Temple in the Salt Lake Temple. The event was recorded by Joseph Anderson, the president's secretary. I asked, at the time, if I could have a copy of the prayer. Joseph Fielding Smith said no, that that was not the order of the church. The only copies of ordinances were those of patriarchal blessings. And I've repeated that over the years, because it is true that there are many, many blessings given in the church. I've been set apart as a bishop twice, I've been set apart as a stake president, I've been set apart as a sealer in a temple, and I don't have copies of those blessings. I have been sent on a mission, and they gave me a special blessing. All members do get copies of their patriarchal blessings, and when I asked why, I was told that that was the order of the church. That's as much as they could tell me.
I did make a record of a few of the salient things that happened in the temple. I remember the room where I was set apart as a sealer very well. I've had some very interesting experiences as a worker in the temple, but I think that I do not have as many recollections as some people do. Some of mine are pretty private. I don't discuss them.
One that might be mentioned regards a group of seminary or institute teachers. A group of eight had made a project of coming to the Oakland Temple to join in some sealing sessions. They were assigned to my session. We had been sealing for about two hours, and it was time for a break for lunch. All of the teachers had gone out of the room. I was gathering up some papers, and so I was still there. I looked up and saw one of the members of the group standing there looking in. I asked her if there was something I could do for her. She answered no, but that she was just looking at all the people who were there in the room. She saw the spirits of the people we had been sealing together. I've never had manifestations of that kind. I've had other experiences, but nothing like that had ever occurred in my life. Here was this woman saying that the room was just filled with people talking back and forth, rejoicing that their temple work had been done. I told her that there was a record made in the temple of all such instances.
My wife Jean told of another similar incident. We had gone through an endowment session, and she had been noticing the man in the booth in the back because there was some trouble managing the tape. Later on we both joined the prayer circle, and she could easily see the booth from the front of the room. There was the man up there operating the film in the booth, but she asked who the other man up there in the booth was. She described him. She was told that no other person was up in the booth; Brother Ashby was the only one there. Jean said she saw another man. It was a rather peculiar feeling to have her tell that story. She was absolutely sure that she could see another man who was standing there at the side of Brother Ashby. Quite a few things of that kind happen in the temples.