Ella Mae White

Ella Mae White died on August 19th at her home in Rogers, Arkansas. She was born August 29, 1912 in Dermott, Arkansas. She was an elementary teacher for over thirty-five years in Arkansas . The public schools where she taught included Dermott, Wilmot, Portland, Earl, Paris, Harrison, and Crossett, where she retired in 1974. In 2000, she and her late husband, Austin White, relocated to Rogers to be near their children. Ella Mae was an active member of the First Baptist Church in Crossett and, as an educator, was involved with the Delta Kappa Gamma Sorority. After her retirement, she became interested in her family's genealogy which resulted in her becoming an active member of the local chapters of DAR and the Colonial Dames of America. She was always very proud that she was the great-granddaughter of Charles McDermott, for whom Dermott was named. Survivors include a son, John Austin White, Jr., and his wife, Mary Elizabeth, of Rogers; a daughter, Linda, and her husband, Donald K. Switzer, of Rogers; four grandchildren (Kimberly White Brakmann and her husband, Edward, of Orlando, Fla., John Austin White III, and his wife, Julie, of Atlanta, Ga., Alison Switzer Madrey and her husband, Greg, of Houston, Texas, and Bryce Allen Switzer and his wife, Lori, of Little Rock, Ark.); and nine great-grandchildren. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Holt Memorial Chapel of Harrison, where burial will occur on Thursday with only immediate family members present. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial gifts be made to the University of Arkansas Foundation to support the John Austin and Ella Mae White Future Teacher's Scholarship at the University of Arkansas.