Laura Jean Klempf

Laura Jean Klempf, a lifelong Jacksonville resident who served as a devoted partner to her husband’s entrepreneurial success and a muse to one of the city’s most accomplished painters, died peacefully on Wednesday. At her insistence, her age will remain a state secret in death as in life, her marker bearing only the date of her passing: July 19, 2017.

Mrs. Klempf, who went by Jean, grew up in Springfield in a tightknit family will little money but an abundance of love. She dropped out of school after sixth grade to do clerical work. In 1951, she met the love of her life and husband of 50 years, Edward Klempf. Their love and admiration for each other was like no other. He, too, had come from little means, reared largely in foster homes in Milwaukee. She was at his side as he founded the Dixie Egg Company and built it into one of northeast Florida’s most successful agribusinesses.

Statuesque and glamorous, with a mane of brilliant red hair, Mrs. Klempf was an exquisite beauty who turned heads wherever she went, at every stage of life. She modeled ball gowns and bathing suits for local merchants in the 1950s. More pin-up than waif, she described herself to a Times-Union interviewer in 1972 as a “tall, long-legged, broad-hipped red-head.” The article suggested that “if she’d been born in another era, Botticelli would have posed her in a shell.”

And yet, Jean Klempf’s outer beauty paled in comparison to her beauty on the inside. As a wife, mother, grandmother and friend, she kept all she knew entertained with her humor and creativity. The Klempfs, who lived on Smullian Trail in Southside, cut dashing figures as they dressed to the nines for cocktail parties and outings with a tight circle of friends and neighbors.

Among those who could not help noticing was Joseph Jeffers Dodge, a gifted local artist and the longtime director of the Cummer Museum of Art in Riverside. At an event at the museum in the early 1960s, Dodge glanced across the room and saw the beautiful red head he felt he had been painting his whole life (eerily, eggs had also been an early motif in his work). Dodge walked over, introduced himself and asked if she would pose for him, acknowledging that it sounded like a bad pick-up line. After much consideration and with the full support of her husband, she agreed.

Thus began a lasting friendship and three-decade professional collaboration that produced scores of luminous studies in oil, including a number of nudes. Not only did Mrs. Klempf model extensively for Dodge, she also helped mix his paints so that the artist, who was partly colorblind, could precisely tint the blaze of her hair.

Classically styled and lushly realistic, Dodge’s paintings captured both Mrs. Klempf’s striking looks and her unconstrained spirit. A pair of crossed barefoot legs. A creased palm. A voluptuous draped torso. Dodge’s biographer, University of North Florida art historian Debra Murphy, described them as “beautiful female topographies.”

Most notable was “Portraits of Jeanne,” an extensive series of varied facial expressions, from unfettered glee to wincing pain and subtle allure. It was an acknowledgement, Dodge explained before his death in 1997, that his subject, like any personality, had multiple facets that were more fully realized in collage than in a single limiting pose. Selected works from the series were shown in museums around the country to approving reviews, and Mrs. Klempf sometimes attended openings so that viewers could appreciate how art had imitated life. Some of the paintings still remain in the Cummer’s permanent collection.

Mrs. Klempf’s aura of elegance on canvas only enhanced the delight she took in flouting social convention. High-spirited and unfiltered, with an impish, sometimes bawdy sense of humor, she appreciated the value of shock value. The more self-important her targets, the more she enjoyed making gentle mischief, a reflection of her firm determination to live life on her own terms.

Jean Klempf’s passions began with her family, particularly the eight grandchildren who considered her their beloved “Gaga.” Visits to her condominium in Epping Forest meant raucous

retellings of funny stories, playing imaginary games, sharing family-size bags of potato chips in bed and devouring bowl after bowl of dirt cake, a signature confection layered in crushed Oreos and whipped cream.

Mrs. Klempf was a devotee of the arts and an avid reader and writer who consumed this newspaper each morning. Her musical tastes stretched from Willie Nelson to The Three Tenors, and she had watched every episode of Law and Order several times over. Her country cooking was infused with the savory seasoning of generations of love. She made new friends wherever she went, from the grocery store to the hair salon. Above all, she enjoyed a good laugh.

Mrs. Klempf was preceded in death by her parents, Eddie and Linnie Mae Nolan; her husband, Edward; her brother, E.D. Starling; and her sister, Charlotte Faye Livingston. She is survived by her adoring brother, E.A. (Bo) Nolan Jr.; her three children, Marc Edward Klempf of Atlanta, Kevin Jacques Klempf of Jacksonville, and Dina Klempf Sack of Atlanta; her eight grandchildren: Alexandria, Julianne and Heather Klempf of Jacksonville; Nicholas Klempf of Atlanta; Zachary Klempf of San Francisco; Alan and Sara Srochi of Atlanta; and Laura Sack of New York; her great-grandchild, Locke Klempf Lee of Jacksonville; her sons-in-law Kevin Sack and Samuel Srochi of Atlanta; her daughters-in-law, Tracy Klempf and Shelley Klempf of Jacksonville; her future son-in-law, Zach Lee, of Jacksonville; and too many other loving friends and relatives to number.

Special love and appreciation go to a remarkable team of compassionate caregivers: LaKisla (LaLa) Mosely, Joyce (Josie) Jernigan and Tressa (Mom T) Wimberly.

The family will hold a private memorial service on Saturday and then a celebration of Mrs. Klempf’s life at the Cummer Museum on Aug. 23. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Community Hospice of Jacksonville.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Hardage-Giddens Greenlawn Funeral Home and Cemetery, 4300 Beach Blvd., Jacksonville, FL 32207. (904) 396-2522. www.hardage-giddensgreenlawnjacksonville.com or www.dignitymemorial.com