Jaren Elizabeth Gunn Pate Died before Divorce from Jerry Lee Lewis Finalized – The Famous Musician’s 4th Wife

Rock and roll great Jerry Lee Lewis’s fourth wife, Jaren Elizabeth Gunn Pate, filed for what was considered a big divorce. However, she mysteriously died before the divorce was finalized.

The recent death of the renowned artist has led to revisiting his life. Controversy and success followed him, taking turns dominating his much-publicized life. Some of his significant discussions surrounded his marriages, numbering seven by the time he passed.

One of those marriages was to Jaren Gunn, whom he married in 1971, a few months after separating from his previous wife. Like the earlier marriages, their marriage was just as tricky. The abuse was rife until it became inevitable for them to separate. A stricken Jaren Gunn finally gathered her strength and filed for divorce.

Jerry Lee Lewis performs at The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Holland on January 1, 1972 | Source: Getty Images

Jaren Elizabeth Gunn Pate Was a Secretary

Jaren Gunn was born in 1942 to Emma Frances Clark Gunn and Samuel Spencer Gunn. She had been working as a secretary for the Memphis Police Department when she got into a relationship with Jerry Lee Lewis.

Before she wed Lewis, she had been married to Russell Kane Pate. Together, they had a daughter, Kelli Karen Pate Curbo, in 1966. Coincidentally, Kelli died at the age of 40 on May 8, 2006, the same number of years that her mother got to live before her passing.

She did not want to go through the ordeal of divorce, but the harsh circumstances continued to point her in that direction.

Jerry Lee Lewis at The Palladium in London, on April 23, 1972 | Source: Getty Images

Jaren and Jerry Lee Lewis’ Unstable Marriage

Right after Jerry Lewis’ divorce from Myra Gale Brown was finalized, Jaren Gunn and Lewis wed in October 1971. Their marriage was doomed from the start. Jerry Lewis claimed that he only married her because she was pregnant but denied that their daughter, Lori Leigh Lewis, born in 1972, was his.

They separated just two weeks after their wedding and lived in separate houses for the rest of their 11 years of marriage. She moved into a house in Collierville, Tennessee, which Jerry paid for. They would see each other occasionally, but those meetings seemed to have been usually violent interactions based on the court records.

As time passed, Jerry stopped paying for his wife and child’s maintenance. Jaren Gunn twice applied for separate maintenance to remain Jerry Lewis’ wife but not live with him. She did not want to go through the ordeal of divorce, but the harsh circumstances continued to point her in that direction.

Jerry Lee Lewis performs at the London Rock’n’Roll Show, Wembley, London on August 5, 1972 | Source: Getty Images

The Final Filing for Divorce

The animosity between the couple started right after their wedding and showed throughout their life together. On December 3, 1973, Jaren sought a maintenance and child support order from a Circuit Court. That was the first time she publicly accused her husband of mistreatment.

Another suit with the same conditions was filed before Jerry Lewis finally filed for divorce from Jaren Gunn in the spring of 1979. He justified the divorce by claiming that she had treated him inhumanely and cruelly. Furthermore, he pointed to the fact that they had not lived as husband and wife since 1971 as a basis for divorce.

However, Jaren countersued by claiming that he had been the one dishing out the “cruel and inhuman treatment” and was involved in adultery, habitual drunkenness, and the use of drugs. From the accusations, divorce seems to have been a long time coming, and this finally seemed like the end of a marriage that never was.

Jerry Lee Lewis performs on March 27, 1973. | Source: Getty Images

Janice Did Not Live to See the Finalization of the Divorce

On June 9, 1982, the same month that Jaren Gunn was set to appear in court, she was found dead in the swimming at her friend’s house in Collierville. She had been sunbathing by the pool, and no one knew what had happened leading up to her death. The coroner noted that her death was accidental.

She lived a generally quiet life after that until she made the news again in 2011, again under unfortunate circumstances.

Jaren Gunn’s untimely passing ended the divorce proceedings that had caught the attention of many around the country. There were some suspicions about her death, with some believing that “Killer,” a nickname that her husband had embraced, had something to do with her death since he would benefit from it.

Janice and Jerry’s Daughter

Jaren Gunn and her husband, Jerry Lee Lewis, welcomed their first and only child, Lori Leigh Lewis, on April 27, 1992. She had been conceived before their marriage, and her father claimed to have married her mother just because she was pregnant.

However, Jerry Lewis denied being her biological father after her birth and neglected his paternal duties. He was not around for her delivery as he was away on tour in Europe. When Jaren Gunn died, she was ten years old and went to live with her grandmother. Some people in Memphis saw it as a case of abandonment by her father.

Jerry Lee Lewis performing on stage at the Rainbow Theatre on December 1, 1978 | Source: Getty Images

She lived a generally quiet life after that until she made the news again in 2011, under unfortunate circumstances. Lori Leigh was arrested and charged with criminally negligent homicide after the death of her five-month-old son. She claimed she had taken muscle relaxants which led her to fall on top of her son.

Jaren Elizabeth Gunn Pate’s marriage to Jerry Lee Lewis was tragic. Although the marriage lasted for over a decade, Jaren Gunn’s divorce applications showed the suffering that came with it. Abuse seemed rampant, and Jerry Lewis even denied being the father of her daughter. Jaren later died in unfortunate circumstances.

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