Fred White

1933 - 2025

Fred M. White was born May 2, 1933, to Manuel Fred White and Katherine Alice Jewell White in Sweet Springs, Missouri. Fred enjoyed a childhood full of adventures riding bikes, climbing trees, fishing, and making rafts that sunk in the creek. He and his cohorts even dug a hole large enough to bury an old car.

Fred's formative years included collecting tin cans, cooking grease and newspapers for the war effort. His thrifty ways carried him throughout his life, as he could fashion just about anything out of an old scrap of wood or various nuts and bolts. He spent a lifetime making furniture for his home and was an expert handyman who could fix just about any car, boat or appliance through trial and error.

Fred was the oldest of four children. He graduated from Kansas City's Central High School in 1951 and served in the Naval Air Reserve from 1950 to 1959. He graduated from Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg, studying biology and chemistry. One of his favorite chemistry teachers inspired him to become a teacher.

He married the love of his life, Mary Carolyn Leftwich, on August 13, 1955, and started his teaching career in Shenandoah, Iowa. He taught for ten years at Westport High School in Kansas City and joined the Pembroke Hill School in 1969. He was inducted into Pembroke Hill's Faculty and Staff Hall of Fame for Science before retiring in 1997.

Fred's curiosity and sense of adventure motivated him to try many new pyrotechnic experiments in the classroom, which occasionally created mayhem. But fortunately, after the smoke settled, he and his students remained unscathed, and his creativity motivated many future scientists.

In the late sixties, the National Science Foundation funded grants which allowed Fred to continue his education at the University of California, Berkley; Florida State in Tallahassee, and earn his Master's in Science Education at Oregon State University. His young family had quite an adventure during these years, with his wife and two young daughters traveling cross country in an old mustang pulling Fred's hand-made trailer and living in campus housing.

Fred was named Outstanding High School Chemistry Teacher from the American Chemical Society three times during his career. He chaired the science department at Pembroke Hill School and initiated its first Advanced Placement Chemistry class in 1971. He received the school's Reed Chair Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1977. Fred also began coordinating competitive students to participate in the annual Science Bowl competition, where they won locally and regionally many times; and at their peak placed fourth in the nation, a record for the school. He retired from Pembroke in 1997, leaving a legacy that continues through his impact on hundreds of students.

Fred was a self-taught sailor, first learning from books at the library. He built his first sailboat, named Wee Windy, in the late 50s. He went on to build three Y Flyers and began racing at Lake Jacomo. In 1974, he purchased an E Scow, which became his favorite primary craft over the years. He and his sailboats have graced the waters at Smithville Lake for decades.

Fred enjoyed woodworking and built over 100 pieces of walnut furniture, plus many wooden toys, clocks and segmented bowls. His early carpentry years included building stage sets for Starlight Theatre. A true romantic at heart, he enjoyed playing guitar for his bride throughout her life and even penned several songs and poems for her. Fred was an avid reader, mostly non-fiction, and he especially enjoyed swashbuckling tales of adventures at sea.

Fred was pre-deceased by his wife of 66 years, Mary Carolyn Leftwich White, in 2021. He always said his greatest accomplishment was raising his two daughters, Laurie Clark (Dan) and Lynn Lanning (Scot). His seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren brought him great joy.

Celebration of Life plans are pending. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the charity of your choice.