Ellen Wisner White

WHITE Ellen Wisner White, age sixty-three, died peacefully in her sleep at her home in Singapore, on May 4, 2013, of complications from a brain tumor. She was the oldest daughter of William J. White of Los Angeles and Mary Menhinick White of New Orleans; the great grandniece of Edward Wisner, a benefactor of this city, and a cousin of the late Elizabeth Wisner, formerly Dean of the Tulane University School of Social Work. She attended the University of New Orleans, was a graduate of UC San Diego and pursued graduate studies at the Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies and the University of Taipei in Taiwan. She joined her father in his international import-export firm, becoming the last woman to hold a business license in Saudi Arabia. For 20 years she was married to the award-winning architect, Carl Ettensperger, of Singapore and Jakarta. Fluent in Mandarin Chinese, she lived for many years in Asia as a much loved and respected teacher. At the time of her death she was Director of Admissions at the Singapore American School. She is survived by her son, Luke Ettensperger of Singapore, her fiancé, Cal Oltrogge of Singapore, her parents, of Los Angeles and New Orleans; her brothers, Paul White of Los Angeles and Philip White of Napa, CA, her sisters Teresa Gellis of Aptos, CA, Anna White of Lahaina, HI, Martha Jansen of Elizabethtown, PA, Ursula Tevis of Paso Robles, CA, Clancy Johannsen of Los Angeles, and by her aunt, Teresa White Dewine and cousins, Kathleen Dewine Benedict, Linda Dewine Martin, Margaret Ann Dewine Duncan, Mary Nell Dewine, Michael Dewine, Elizabeth Dewine Gann, and Josephine Dewine Graham, all of Knoxville, TN. Memorial services will be held in Singapore at the International Baptist Church and, at a later date, at St. Timothy's Catholic Church in West Lost Angeles and at the graveside in Calvary Cemetery, in Knoxville.