Christine WHITE

WHITE, Christine "Crissy" Weymouth resident and beloved mother of Kai Schildmeier, Christine "Cissy" White, 56, died on April 2, 2023, from ovarian cancer. Cissy leaves her mother, Nancy Atwood and her husband, Chip; sister, Karyn Doherty and her husband, John; brother, Joseph Atwood and his wife, Mindy, and a large, much-loved extended family. She was predeceased by her biological father, Frank White.

Cissy worked as a supervisor for Little Brown and Company (1990-1997), revenue specialist for 3Com (1997-2000), and in the communications and events planning department for the

adoption agency, Wide Horizons for Children (2000-2003). In 2003, she and her then-husband,

David Schildmeier traveled to China to adopt Kai, who became the love and light of Cissy's life.

Cissy worked as a paralegal in the law office of C. Michele Dorsey before starting her career at

ACEs Connection (now PACEs Connection), a social network that recognizes the impact of

adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in shaping physical and emotional health. "It's not

trauma-informed if it's not informed by trauma survivors" was her motto. Her advocacy work for

trauma survivors earned her the Touching Trauma at its Heart Award from the Attachment and

Trauma Network, the VOICE for Traumatized Children. Her work was written about in the

Atlantic Monthly and the Boston Globe. She appeared in the December 2020 PBS News Hour

series "Invisible Scars: America's Childhood Trauma Crisis."

A childhood trauma survivor, Cissy knew firsthand the healing power of writing. She shared her

journey on her blog healwritenow.com Her writing appears in Ms. Magazine online, Elephant

Journal, the Boston Globe, Spirituality & Health, To Write Love on Her Arms, ACEs Connection, and ACEs Too High, among others. She founded the Heal Write Now Center in Weymouth in 2015.

After being diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2019, Cissy became involved in patient advocacy

work, volunteering for the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance (OCRA) as part of the Survivors

Teaching Students program. Her hope was that future medical professionals better understand

the early symptoms of ovarian cancer. Cissy's first-person account of what it was like to be

involved in cancer drug trials, "The Clinical Trial Treatment Train," was published in the New

England Journal of Medicine on August 23, 2022.

Cissy graduated from Bromfield High School in Harvard, MA, in 1985 and earned a BA from

Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, in 1991.

Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend a Visitation for Cissy on Saturday, April 15, 2023, from 11-1pm in the CC Shepherd Funeral Home located at 134 Pleasant St. (Columbian Sq.), WEYMOUTH. A Service for Cissy will take place immediately after the Visiting Hours in the funeral home. Cissy encouraged people to wear bright colors. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance. Please visit Cissy's tribute page at https://give.ocrahope.org/cissy Checks may be mailed to Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance, PO Box 32141, New York, NY 10087-2141.