HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 2015-01-07, Page 22 News Record • Wednesday, January 7, 2015
The search for Lynne Harper
Lynne Harper was raped
and murdered. Her lifeless
body was found in Lawson's
Bush on June 11, 1959.
The subsequent autopsy
determined that she had
been strangled with her own
blouse. These are the only
undisputed facts in what his-
tory calls the Truscott case.
The story of Steven
Truscott, charged at age 14
with first-degree murder in
the death of Lynne Harper is
an oft -told tale. His trial,
conviction and death sen-
tence in the Goderich Court-
house need not be
recounted here.
Although Truscott told
journalist Bill Trent that he
"hardly knew her [Harper],
we were classmates but she
was not among my friends,"
their names would be for-
ever linked. For too long,
Lynne Harper has been the
background prop in the
longest legal drama in Cana-
dian history.
Of the several books writ-
ten on the Truscott-Harper
case, it is difficult to deter-
mine who was Lynne Harper.
It is easier to ascertain what
she ate for her last meal than
it is to find out what she was
like as a young girl.
For the record, according
to Isabel LaBourdais' The
Trial of Steven Truscott
(1966), Dr. Penistan's
autopsy conducted in
Column
Dave Yates
a Clinton 'undertaker's
establishment' determined
that she had eaten white tur-
key, dressing, potatoes, peas,
upside down cake with ham
and bologna. Although the
state of decomposition of
her stomach contents would
become tremendously
important evidence during
the trial, they reveal nothing
about Lynne Harper.
What is known is that
Cheryl Lynne Harper was
born on August 31,
1946. Her parents, Flying
Officer Leslie and Shirley
Harper, were originally from
New Brunswick. Lynne was
the middle of three chil-
dren. She had an older
brother Barry in Grade 11 at
Central Huron Secondary
School and a younger five-
year-old brother Jeffrey.
As the daughter of a com-
missioned officer, Lynne's
family formed part of the
upper class of garrison soci-
ety. While at R.C.A.F. Station
Clinton, the Harper's lived in
the Permanent Married
Quarters on Victoria Boule-
vard. She was a Grade 7
QMI Agency file photo
This file photo shows where her lifeless body was found in Lawson's Bush on June 11, 1959. Her killer has never been found, a mystery
that still haunts her family and Huron County to this date.
student at the A.V.M. Hugh
Campbell School.
Maitland Edgar, who
taught both Lynne and
Steven in a split Gr. 7/8 class,
recalls that Lynne was a
"high spirited" girl. She was
independent, determined
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and "quite forward" in her
opinions. There was nothing
disrespectful or 'distasteful
about her," in fact, according
to Edgar, she was very "well
brought up." However, he
did have to 'place' her in the
seat in front of the teacher's
desk to restrain her energetic
disposition. Truscott, in
comparison, sat in the back
row by the window.
Her father, Leslie, was a
teacher before enlisting in
the R.C.A.F. in 1940. It can
be assumed that a love for
learning was instilled in the
Harper children. Lynne
was an "above average stu-
dent" in all her subjects
but, despite her small stat-
ure, she excelled in physi-
cal education.
On Lynne's last after-
noon, Miss Helen Blair, a
Gr. 4 teacher at A.V.M.
Campbell school and base-
ball coach gave her a ride
home after an after school
ballgame.
At home, she had dinner
and wanted to go for a
swim at the Officers' Mess
pool. As she needed paren-
tal accompaniment, she
could not enter without a
pass. Her determination to
get a pass anyway led her to
knock on the door of the
pool supervisor, Mayor
Johnson. Lacking adult
supervision, a pass was
refused and so she went
home to help her mother
with the dishes. According
to Julian Sher's book Until
You Are Dead (2001), Lynne
was a 'dutiful daughter' and
helped her mother with
housework often because
of Shirley's rheumatism.
The last time Shirley
Harper saw her daughter
alive was watching Lynne
walk up Victoria Boule-
vard and turn down Win-
nipeg Road.
As Lynne was an active
Brownie, she went to the
schoolyard to watch the
Girl Guide meeting. It was
there that she approached
a classmate, Steven
Truscott, and started a
conversation with
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