Constance V.R. White

Connie White was the strongest-willed woman to ever grace the cobblestones of Beacon Hill. Even the doctors at Mass General Hospital, despite their educations and machines and tests and charts telling them otherwise, thought her fierce willpower might carry her into her 100th year. Sadly, Constance Van Rensselaer White died on March 1, 2023 at 99 years old. She passed peacefully, of natural causes, in her Beacon Street residence, with family by her side and the familiar sounds of her city working their way through the large single pane windows.

Constance was born to William and Constance Dexter on January 4, 1924 in Boston, MA. Calvin Coolidge was president, and the first Winter Olympics were just 21 days away. She spent her childhood in Boston, then finished her education at the Foxcroft School in Middleburg, VA, graduating in 1942. After Foxcroft, Constance studied secretarial skills at Hickox. Concurrently she began volunteering through the Junior League at the Museum of Science and the Red Cross, earning herself a mention in the ‘Today in Society’ column of the Oct. 22, 1942 Boston Globe. The ‘pretty debutante Constance V.R. Dexter’ likely didn’t know it at the time, but this early volunteer work was the beginning of a lifelong journey of service to others (both hominid and animalia).

Constance married Michael Morgan White in 1948. They spent the first five years of marriage in Paris, where her eldest daughter Isabella was born. The family of three returned to Boston in

1953, where she welcomed two more daughters: Alix Phelps and Edith Dexter.

In the early 60s the family moved to Philadelphia. In these ten years outside her native city, Constance’s yen for travel and discovery developed, a passion that defined much of her subsequent life.

When she returned to Boston in the mid 60s, Constance developed and expanded her volunteer work. She devoted her time to the International Institute of Boston, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Friendship Works, among many others. Through Friendship Works Constance provided transportation to homebound seniors - forging ahead right up until she herself was no longer able to drive. In 2009, MATCH-UP Interfaith Volunteers presented her with the David Libby Award for Exemplary Service. Two weeks prior to her passing she ordered more wool to start another batch of clothing and sections of prayer shawls that she knitted for the Fragment Society and Trinity Church, respectively..

After a lifetime of generosity, Constance was on what seemed like everyone’s donation-request mailing list. She embraced this role, conscientiously devoting much of each day to sorting precarious piles of new requests. Not all of them made it to the ‘yes’ pile, but her philanthropic giving was generous and wide-reaching, supporting a multitude of diverse

organizations.

While many of her peers were slowing down and settling in, Constance was exploring the world. She felt the pull of global travel, and often invited one of her four grandchildren to accompany her – showing them a pride of lions on Christmas Morning in Kenya, marveling together at the enormity of Ayers Rock in Australia, and chuckling at the slow awkwardness of giant Galapagos tortoises that used to know Charles Darwin. She rode elephants in India, visited volcanoes in Papua New Guinea, and posed, grinning, next to 10-foot tall termite mounds.

Constance was busy, but she wasn’t in a hurry. If you couldn’t immediately parse her intricate language it was OK, she would wait for you to catch up. If she arrived late at Trinity and wanted to sit in her seat in the front she would, even if the choir was mid-hallelujah and that pew was already full. If she wanted to pick a penny up in the middle of the crosswalk she did … the angry Boston drivers would survive.

In addition to a vast network of friends and family, Constance leaves behind her sister MaryAnn Streeter; her 3 daughters Isabella, Alix, and Edie; her 4 grandchildren Morgan, Deirdre, Aaron, and Felix; and her 3 great grandchildren Adele, Violet, and Mila. She touched the world with her zest for life, fierce independence, dedication and generosity.

Her funeral service will be held at Trinity Church on Tuesday, March 28 at

10:00am. A reception will be held immediately following the service, at the same location. Please come one and all.

The private burial service will be at Mt. Auburn Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, Constance requested that you please consider making a donation to Friendship Works:

Friendship Works

105 Chauncy St.

Boston, MA, 02111

https://fw4elders.org/