Lola Mae Gauff

Lola Mae Johnson was born to Frank and Anna Johnson on December 18,

1918 at their family home in Riverside, California. She was the youngest of

Frank Johnson's eight children. When Lola was only five years old, her

mother died, leaving Frank to raise the two youngest, Anita and Lola, as a

single parent. As the child of a busy man, young Lola developed her keen

sense of responsibility and independence at a very early age.

On June 26th 1938, Lola happily married Allen (Bob) Joseph Gauff, a

handsome and enterprising young man from New Orleans, who established

himself as a plumbing contractor in Palm Desert. Together, Bob and Lola

started a family, welcoming two beautiful daughters, Patricia and Esther,

into their lives.

She was a woman of many talents, which had been honed during the

years when she chose to stay at home to raise her children. Inspired by

motherly dedication and by the experience of a motherless childhood, Lola

decided to postpone seeking employment until both of her daughters, Pat

& Esther, had completed elementary school. While her children were in

school, Lola was active with the local PTA, eventually serving as president

of the organization.

During those stay-at-home-mom years, Lola entertained several hobbies

including gardening, lampshade and candle making, leather tooling, doll

making, photography, creative writing, and travel.

Her husband Bob often referred to her as "the lady with a hammer," for

she loved decorating her home with hanging pictures and art objects. To

accommodate her short stature, Bob customized Lola's kitchen in their

Riverside home, and it was from that custom kitchen that Lola and Bob

would often showcase their outstanding hospitality when welcoming

others into their home. Lola was known for cooking delicious and creative

buffet dinners. Often, she would prepare home-cooked meals and

desserts for several medical, dental and ministerial students, particularly

young men from the Caribbean, who were attending La Sierra and Loma

Linda Universities. On many afternoons, there was singing, fellowship and

recitations, which all enjoyed immensely.

Her first employment was the administrative assistant to an elementary

school principal in Riverside, California, in the mid-fifties; she was the first

person of color to hold that position. Lola was probably the best

administrative assistant that principal ever had, because he depended on

her to keep the whole school running. She was certainly apt to a

challenge, especially in tasks that required organization, creativity and

numbers.

She used her creativity in many ways. As family historian, she used her

creative writing to chronicle the lives of family members past and present.

She wrote a valuable collection of travel articles, a book in which she

describes the many vistas and landscapes of many of her travels to

faraway places. She was a world traveler whose passport was

overflowing with stamps to exotic regions. Among her many journeys,

several trips brought her extra joy: a trip with Esther, her daughter, to

Acapulco; a Caribbean trip to Trinidad & Barbados with Pat & family; and

a memorable trip with her sister, Anita J. Mackey, to Australia. Her most

adventurous trip was a helicopter ride to the bottom of the Grand

Canyon where she joined a caravan, on horseback, to the famous

Havasupai Indian reservation and Havasu Falls. Her last major trip was

an Alaskan cruise, which she took in spite of being diagnosed with

chronic leukemia.

After her husband Bob died on October 9, 1977, Lola continued to travel

and work. She moved to Oregon to be with her daughter, Esther & family

where she took a job as a bookkeeper for a preschool. It was in 1984 that

she moved to Santa Barbara, California and took several other

bookkeeping jobs, this time for a private school, a key shop, and a

non-profit organization. Lola was talented with numbers: she could add

mathematical figures in her head without the use of a calculator.

In her busy life, she always made time to practice her faith. She was

devoted to her church in Santa Barbara where she was a deaconess and

Sabbath School Superintendent. She faithfully communicated with sick

and shut-ins by mail. Anyone who knew Lola has received some written

material from her. Her correspondences were thoughtful and loving. Her

hand writing, impeccable. Often, Lola was called “Suzy Secretary” by her

family, as she enjoyed secretarial work and was blessed with exceptional

skills in organization. In one of the last entries in Lola's personal journal

she wrote, “I pray for my family members to realize they need a closer walk

with God. May my prayers be answered." Lola loved listening to audio

tapes of the Bible; she said that by listening to verses repeatedly she

would learn more each day.

As her health began to fail she moved to Los Angeles near the end of

2005 and stayed with her daughter and son-in-law, Pat and Lloyd. With

them, she attended The Berean Seventh-Day-Adventist Church. A few

years later, a wonderful caregiver, Clarice Peters, came to be with her

from Guyana, South American.

She was active until she broke her hip on December 5, 2011 and became a

resident of Hollenbeck Palms near White Memorial Hospital, where she

remained until she was called to her final earthly rest on Friday

afternoon, March 28, 2014 at 3:15 pm at 95 years of age.

She is preceded in death by her husband Allen Joseph Gauff, her

grandson, Jeffrey Allen Stoll, six half-siblings, including Alice Black, the

wife of Elder Dennis T. Black and one week later her son-in-law, Charles

Jordan who died on April 4, 2014.

Lola leaves many to cherish her memory: her daughters, Pat Stoll and

Esther Jordan; her son-in-law, Lloyd Stoll; her grandchildren Lauren

Blouin, Michael Stoll (Kenya), Anthony Stoll (Lani), Trish Jordan, Dion

Jordan (Shelly); her great grandchildren, Nigel Stoll, Asia Stoll, Emera

Stoll, Samina Stoll, Myla Stoll, Christopher Anderson, Mia Jordan and

Sydnee Jordan; her sister Anita J. Mackey (who is 100 years young).