Lucinda W. Morman
- Position
- Maid
- Years in President's House
- circa 1953 – 1971
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Female
- Race/Ethnicity
- Unclear from Context
- Biography
Lucinda Welchel Morman was born on July 4, 1901, in Gainesville, Georgia.1 She later relocated to Washington, D.C. and worked as a dressmaker prior to joining the White House staff as maid during Dwight D. Eisenhower’s presidency.2 She primarily worked on the Second and Third Floors of the Residence, tidying the first family’s private spaces.3
Chief Usher J. B. West recalled that when First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy moved into the White House in 1961, she “assessed the abilities of the staff [and] quickly learned to utilize their particular talents. Lucinda Mormon, she discovered, was an excellent seamstress. Before long, that maid… spent most of her time making alterations on the First Lady’s Oleg Cassini” designer dresses.4
After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963, Morman made a black mourning veil for Mrs. Kennedy, as it proved difficult to purchase one in time for the funeral.5 Morman continued to work as a maid in the White House through at least 1971.6 After retiring, she moved to New York City, where she passed away on June 15, 1978.7
- “Was Seamstress at White House,” Washington Post, June 18, 1978, pg. C10; Lucinda Morman in U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014, Social Security Administration; Washington D.C., USA; Social Security Death Index, Master File, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/3693/records/43707928.
- Ibid; Boyd’s District of Columbia Directory (Washington, D.C.: R. L. Polk and Co., 1935), 1418.
- Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis Personal Papers. Textual Materials. Letitia Baldrige Files. Christmas: 1961 (2 of 2 folders). JBKOPP-SF037-009. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
- J. B. West, Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies (New York: Coward, McCann, and Geoghegan, Inc., 1973), 211.
- Jonathan Mayo, The Assassination of JFK: Minute by Minute (London: Octopus, 2013), Ebook, https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Assassination_of_JFK/dM4pEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0.
- Untitled Staff List, October 1971, Collection: White House Usher’s Office; Series: Rex Scouten’s Subject File; Folder: Residence Employees; Container 5, Jimmy Carter Presidential Library.
- “Morman, Lucinda Welchel,” Washington Post, June 18, 1978, pg. C10; “Was Seamstress at White House,” Washington Post, June 18, 1978, pg. C10.
- Birthplace
- Gainesville, Georgia, USA
- Unclear from Context