Laura Jean Julien White

Laura grew up in small towns in Indiana and Oklahoma and always dreamed of traveling. She graduated from Valparaiso (Indiana) High School in 1945 and received a B.S. in Chemistry from Purdue University in 1949. She spent the next 2 years teaching elementary school in San Antonio, Texas, and then began a job as a research assistant in Chemistry at Johns Hopkins University. She left Johns Hopkins when she had the opportunity to travel to Europe to teach elementary school-age US military dependents in Baumholder, West Germany where she met Army Lieutenant Kenneth H. White, Jr. After marriage in 1953, Laura accompanied her husband on various military tours of duty including California, Japan, Kentucky, Colorado, Germany (again), and the Washington, D.C. area. In retirement she and Ken traveled the world, including Russia, China, New Zealand, Peru, the Caribbean, and Europe; they also enjoyed skiing at Lake Tahoe until they were 80.

Laura is survived by her four children – Linda White-Guida and her husband Richard of Hillsborough, New Jersey; Jeffrey White and his wife Treena of Fairfax Station, Virginia; Dianne White of Allen, Texas; and Cynthia Basham and her husband Bevan of Plainfield, Illinois – as well as eight grandchildren. Laura will be remembered for her love of family, humor, intelligence, graciousness, and sense of adventure.

Laura will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery at a later date.