James White

Posted: Friday, August 13, 2010 11:22 am

The Messenger, August 12, 2010
James W. White, 97, of Springfield, Ill., formerly of Union City and of Carbondale, Ill., died 1:25 p.m. Aug. 7, 2010, at River Birch Senior Living in Springfield.
Private family services are planned.
Staab Polk Memorial Home in Chatham, Ill., was in charge of arrangements.
The family requests that memorials be made to public television stations WILL-TV, 300 North Goodwin Ave., Urbana, IL 61801 or WSEC-TV, 1475 East Plummer, Chatham, IL 62629.
He was born Aug. 25, 1912, in Maunie, Ill., son of the late Homer and Amy (Williams) White. He was a 1929 graduate of Carmi (Ill.) High School and a 1933 graduate of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.
He married the former Elizabeth Newman in 1935 and she died in 1990. He married the former Mary Eleanor McRoy in 1991. She died Oct. 3, 2008.
He was a World War II U.S. Navy veteran who received his commission in 1943 as a communications officer. He served with distinction aboard Navy merchant ships, as well as the USS Springfield (CL66) when it escorted President Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Yalta Conference in 1944. He received two Bronze Stars for his Navy service.
At the end of the war, he began his career in banking as a teller at First National Bank of Carbondale. In 1949, he became a bank examiner for the Comptroller of the Currency, and in 1962 he joined the former Old and Third National Bank of Union City, retiring as chairman of the board in 1975.
He served in various capacities for the Small Business Administration, Public Housing Authority and Municipal Park Board during his lifetime and was involved with fundraising for the Boy Scouts and several libraries.
He enjoyed golfing and had been a member of the Carbondale Country Club,  the Elks Lodge, Rotary Club and Missouri Athletic Club.
He is survived by his brother and sister-in-law, William H. and Pauline Geving-White of Chatham.