A portrait of Pearl Esther [Gaupp] Lee that appeared in the Elizabethville Echo, Elizabethville, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, on the occasion of her being recognized and honored on her return to Elizabethville by the Sunday School of the United Brethren Church there, is shown below. Miss Gaupp had honorably served as a Navy Nurse in France during the World War and was said to be the only Elizabethville woman who served in France during the war.
Pearl Esther Gaupp was born in Elizabethville, on 21 July 1895, the daughter of Gottlieb Frederick “Fred” Gaupp (1855-1937) and Sophia M. [Bregler] Gaupp (1860-1913), immigrants from Germany. Her father was a tanner.
Pearl graduated from Elizabethville High School in 1912, and her portrait, cropped from the photo of the graduation photograph is shown at the top of this post. Following her graduation from high school, Miss Gaupp was accepted in the nursing program at Methodist Hospital in Philadelphia. She graduated in 1916 as a trained nurse.
At the time of World War I, Pearl Gaupp enlisted at the Philadelphia Navy Yards on 15 September 1917 and was on active duty from that date until 19 February 1919 when she received an honorable discharge at Washington, D.C. During the war, she was stationed at Navy Base Hospital #5 in France, from 15 Oct 1917 to 4 January 1919.
“Three Class-Mates Who Have Done Full Share of War Work,” appeared in the Harrisburg Telegraph on 19 March 1919; a brief article and photo included Pearl Gaupp, who is pictured at right in her uniform. The article notes that Miss Gaupp served 15 difficult months at Brest, where she saw “the most difficult kind of service in the Army hospitals, particularly during the attempt of the Germans to gain the channel ports last spring.” Pictured at lesf in the photo is Nell Long of Millersburg, Dauphin County, who served with Miss Gaupp at the same location.
After her service, Pearl Gaupp married Robert Edward Lee of North Carolina, and the couple moved to Tampa, Hillsborough County, Florida. The had one daughter, Mary Lee, who was born about 1924.
Pearl Gaupp died on 13 March 1973 in Tampa and is buried there.
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News articles from Newspapers.com.