Speaking with a soft, North Carolina lilt in a voice suggesting a genteel lady 50 years younger than her stated age, White nevertheless, has seen a lot of history. And like the warm mothers in "Father Knows Best" and "Leave It to Beaver," she has floated above the unpleasant parts, focusing on family and the simple pleasures of life.
Along the way, she has also found a creative outlet that on her way to 100, still brings her the joy of making something new.
Born in Jacksonville, just before the crash that brought on the Great Depression, White learned about what happens when jobs disappear. Her family moved back to a grandfather’s North Carolina farm to weather the next years. “We had plenty to eat from the land,” she says, almost wistfully. Her father got a WPA job and her mother taught her to can food and master other “womanly” arts, like crocheting and sewing.