Raymond White

Born the second son of Joseph A. White, Jr. and Elizabeth Taylor White in Ann Arbor, Michigan on May 5, 1948, he was named after his mother’s father, William Raymond Taylor, and his father’s navigator during World War II, Alan Wetzel. The family moved to Tallahassee in 1950, where Ray grew up, graduating from Leon High School in 1966 and earning a Masters Degree in Fine Arts from Florida State University.

He is survived by his son, Christopher Dylan White (named for poet Dylan Thomas, not singer Bob Dylan whose music Ray introduced to the family early in Dylan’s career), and grandson Ian Christopher White; his older brother Joseph A. White, III and his wife Cora Brooks-White, sisters Marcia Wurzel and her husband Bob, and Carroll Jarrett and her husband Jack; as well as a host of nieces, nephews, a grand-niece and grand nephew and cousins with whom he kept in text communication.

Ray’s interest in art included painting and photography, and theatre construction techniques learned when interning in stage set design for the Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis (where he lived with his brother for the duration).

Ray was living in Hawaii when hurricane Iwa hit in 1982. He spent time helping recovery operations and feeding folks in Kauai before returning to the mainland. He returned to his mother’s home when his father passed away in 1999 to help her until her death in 2007.

After his father passed away in July, 1999, Ray completed the publication process of his father’s letters to his wife during World War II. The three-volume set of “Letters to Libby” provides a first hand account from 1942 to 1945. We, Ray’s family, owe a debt of gratitude in seeing this life-long dream of his mother, Libby, come to life.

Passing by his abode near Lake Bradford recently, you could often hear him playing acoustic guitar, a love of music born in his teenage years.

If you wanted a deep conversation about any number of topics, Ray was your man to talk to. Well-read and with a wide interest in humanity and its struggles -- often with a novel insight delivered through humor.

In one of the last conversations with Ray, he asked that we “love each other” and “believe in God”, sharing his favorite bible verse, John 3:16.

A memorial service will be held at a later date.