Betty White Of Sagaponack Dies At Age 87

Elizabeth J. White

Elizabeth (Betty) Jean White died at her home in Sagaponack on January 20 with her family by her side. She was 87 years old.

Mrs. White was born on May 22, 1923, in Long Branch, New Jersey, to Hannah Parent and Floyd G. Chambers. She attended local schools and graduated from Long Branch High School in June 1941, in the largest graduating class at that time with 236 graduates. She attended Monmouth Memorial Hospital’s (now Monmouth Medical Center) nursing school and completed a three-year course to become a registered nurse. Upon graduating in June 1944 she enlisted in the Naval Reserve as an ensign. Her first tour of duty was the Brooklyn Navy Yard Hospital, followed by the Naval Air Station on Coronado Island off the coast of San Diego, California. She was discharged and returned to New Jersey in November 1946.

During a visit to Sagaponack to assist her aunt Helen Barbour after the birth of Helen’s son Bill, Mrs. White met Sagaponack farmer John C. White and they were married in September 1947. The couple raised three sons and a daughter on the White family farm which was founded in 1695 and in 2010 they celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary.

Mrs. White was a member of the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church for more than six decades and actively participated in all aspects of the church’s ministry. Church history was made in 1975 when Mrs. White joined Dr. Louisa B. Sandford in being the first two women to be ordained as church elders. Mrs. White’s community service included the Bridgehampton Fire Department as a “fire wife” in actively supporting her husband’s service in the fire department for more than 60 years, including his time as chief.

In 2007 Mr. and Mrs. White were recognized by proclamation by the Peconic Land Trust, Sagaponack Village, Town of Southampton, Suffolk County and the State of New York for their inspiring determination in the face of many obstacles for their commitment, patience and perseverance in successfully protecting the bulk of their Sagaponack family farm from future development and preserving it for future generations.

Mrs. White enjoyed travel and ventured to California, Alaska, Scotland, England, Canada, Pennsylvania (for annual farm-related events), as well as various states where her four children attended college, family reunion locations and regular trips along the eastern seaboard to visit family, friends and nursing school alumni.

She is survived by her husband, John C. White; and four children, John N. White, Barbara White Ford, Jeffery G. White and his wife Kathleen Sullivan White, and Thomas D. White, all of Sagaponack, and a granddaughter Elizabeth (Eliza) Topham White of Sag Harbor.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations would be appreciated to either the Memorial Fund of the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 3038, Bridgehampton, NY 11932-3038, or East End Hospice P.O. Box 1048, Westhampton Beach, NY 11978-704.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, January 29, at 11 a.m. at the Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Brockett Funeral Home in Southampton.