Ed Soper - Across the Valley

Original oil painting 12 inches by 12 inches

Born and raised in the eastern states (Pennsylvania and Virginia), Ed took the standard art class in high school, tried a few paintings, and illustrated – with cartoons -- his senior class yearbook. He and his family moved to Golden, Colorado in 1957 so he could attend engineering school at the Colorado School of Mines. During the next few years he “fooled around” with painting local scenery. In 1958 he transferred to Provo and BYU.

          Following an LDS mission to Mexico, he returned to BYU and married Jaycene Noakes, originally from Centerville. They lived in several locations in Utah and Colorado, then went to Gainesville, Florida, where Ed worked on a graduate degree in Latin American Studies. He completed and sold a few paintings to supplement their meager fellowship income.

         During the next 40 years he and Jaycene raised five children while in Farmington, Utah and Atlanta, Georgia. Beginning in 1989 they lived in Colombia and California as he served as a mission president. Between 1971 and 2001 he was employed in Welfare and Humanitarian Services with the LDS Church. They now have 21 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren, with all of their immediate family now living in Utah.

         Following his retirement, his wife and children encouraged Ed to resume painting; at the time he and Jaycene had a home in Spring City, Sanpete County, Utah, and Ed became a member of the Spring City Arts Association and began to display his works in the Spring City Arts Gallery. He has painted an average of about 20-25 paintings a year, mostly landscapes in oil, and has been quite successful in selling his paintings, some of which have been recognized with awards in shows in Utah County and St. George.

           Ed and Jaycene now live in American Fork, where he continues to paint in a studio he had built into their home on 1100 East.