LORRAINE PEARCE

PEARCE LORRAINE WAXMAN PEARCE Lorraine Waxman Pearce, 82, of Washington, DC, died peacefully the morning of March 14, 2017, at Martha Jefferson House nursing home in Charlottesville, VA. Born April 14, 1934 in Bronx, New York, daughter of Benjamin and Rose (née Dayan) Waxman. She graduated from High School of Music and Art and received a B.S. in Education from City College of New York in 1955. She was a Fulbright Scholar in Strasbourg, France and then completed her master's degree in American Culture at Winterthur Museum, University of Delaware, in 1958. Although Mrs. Pearce considered herself "timid and over-educated," nevertheless, due to her evident talents, her name was put forward by the owner of Winterthur, Henry Francis DuPont, to the White House Historical Association, when the Kennedy administration came into office and Jacqueline Kennedy decided her role as First Lady would be to restore the interiors of the White House, long neglected, to their historical accuracy. Mrs. Pearce was always extremely thankful and complimentary to Mr. DuPont for being the spark than ignited her remarkable career. Mrs. Pearce was selected to be the first Curator of the White House, providing the scholarship behind the restoration and became, it the words of one magazine story, "the woman who furnished Camelot." But Mrs. Pearce always pointed out it was the collaboration between Mrs. Kennedy and herself that made the restoration happen, and we owe them both gratitude for how the public rooms of the White House appear today. Mrs. Pearce wrote the first edition of "The White House: An Historic Guide" which just celebrated it's 50th anniversary by releasing a 23rd edition. After the restoration was complete, Mrs. Pearce resigned from the White House and began to teach private slide-lecture classes in decorative and fine arts history to the women of the greater Washington, D.C. area. She taught from fall of 1963 to the spring of 2011, and most everyone who knows Lorraine either took one of her classes, or knows someone who did. She raised two children, David & Hannah Pearce, became an antiques dealer in her business Getty House Antiques in the 1980s, all the while continuing to teach her private classes, and leading many of her students on "fieldtrips" to historic sites and cities all over Europe, Russia and the Baltic states. She is survived by her former husband John Pearce, of Fredericksburg, VA; her two children, Hannah and David Pearce; her son-in-law Bruce Cohen; her grandchildren Madeline, Aaron, Ben and Eli Cohen; her brother Jack Waxman and his family including wife Suzanne, nephew Ben Waxman, and nieces Jennifer Waxman and Rebecca Alison, and great-nieces Akiva and Jalini, as well as her many, many friends who were also like family. Special thanks to Dr. Balogan, to all of the staff of Martha Jefferson House, and to the Hospice of the Piedmont for all of their loving care and support. Her funeral will be held at Hill & Wood Funeral Home in Charlottesville this Thursday, March 16, at 11 a.m., Rabbi Tom Gutherz, Congregation Beth Israel officiating, burial at the Hebrew Cemetery to follow, and then a meal of consolation to at the home of Hannah and Bruce, 112 George Rogers Road, Charlottesville, VA 22911. A Shiva minyan will also be held at their house Thursday night at 7 p.m. In lieu of flowers, please donate in her memory to a charity fighting the scourge of Alzheimer's disease, or a charity of your choice. May her memory be a blessing to all of us.In lieu of flowers, please donate in her memory to a charity fighting the scourge of Alzheimer's disease, or a charity of your choice. May her memory be a blessing to all of us.