Roland J. White

Roland “Jack” White of Chestertown, MD, died on Thursday December 27, 2007, at Heron Point. He was 87. He was born on June 16, 1920, in Rochester, NY, the son of the late John Henry White and Rosalind Mae Otis White. He joined the US Army in 1940 as a private and became a second lieutenant in the US Army Signal Corps, where he wrote training manuals and provided training and technical support for radar and radio communications systems while serving in Hawaii, Okinawa, and the Pacific Theatre. He met his wife, the former Dorothy Jean Wild while training in the US Army in Louisiana. They were married in June 1942, just prior to beginning his overseas service during the war. After WWII he and Dorothy went to Ithaca, NY, where Mr. White attended and graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University in 1949. Following graduation, the family moved to Southern New Jersey where he began his first job as an electrical engineer with RCA. During his years with RCA, he developed a number of electrical component applications which were later patented for use in RCA products. During his time there, the family relocated twice, once to Upper Montclair and then to Cherry Hill, NJ. In 1964 Mr. White went to work for General Dynamics and the family once again relocated to Rochester, NY, where they lived for three years. He last worked for IITRI (Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute) in Annapolis, MD, from 1974 until his retirement in 1982. Upon retirement, Mr. White and his wife, Dorothy moved to Jennings, LA, where he was actively involved with the Wild Family rice farm operations in Midland and Welsh, the Jennings Rotary Club, and First Presbyterian Church of Jennings. In 1991, they moved to Heron Point, along with his father, John Henry, as the first residents in cottage 417. At Heron Point, he became involved in marketing, meeting with perspective residents, working on the Heron Point budget, capital planning, and computer committees and supporting fundraiser drives for the new assisted-living Tolchester Wing. He was also very active with the Education Foundation in Kent County and the Presbyterian Church of Chestertown where he edited and produced the church newsletter and worked on church building campaigns. In addition to his wife, Mr. White is survived by two sons, Kenneth ‘Lee’ White and his wife, Christine, of Montgomery Village, MD, and John Everett White and his wife, Mary, of Arnold, MD; a daughter, Janice Elizabeth White Carman and her husband, Bill of Murrells Inlet, SC; and four grandchildren, Kelly Ryan White of Frederick, MD, Sean Patrick White of Kensington, MD, Laura Elizabeth White Alianello and her husband, Jake of Durham, NC, and Matthew Mitchell White of Arnold, MD. Services and a reception will be held on Saturday, January 5, 2008, at 2 p.m. at Wesley Hall of Heron Point, Chestertown, MD. Interment will be held privately at St. Paul’s Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations in his memory be sent to the Presbyterian Church of Chestertown, 905 Gateway Dr., Chestertown, MD 21620 or to the Heron Point Benevolence Fund, 501 E. Campus Dr., Chestertown, MD 21620. For his family and friends in Louisiana, the family requests that donations in his memory be sent to the First Presbyterian Church of Jennings or the Jennings Rotary Club.