John Frederick White

John Frederick White, age 89, of Black Mountain, North Carolina, passed away on October 7th, 2024 in Black Mountain, NC.
John was born in Charlotte, NC, to Thomas and Helen White, following big sister Ann and brother Bill, and preceding Mary Agnes, Pat, and Rick. At 5 years of age, his family moved to a little farm on Twin Creek near Knoxville, TN. They all attended St Mary's Elementary where, in the rush to catch his ride to school, John sometimes didn't have time to change out of his milking boots, and in the seventh grade he wrote JW + MLM (Mary Leonard Mercer) on his ink bottle. Both continued to Knoxville Catholic High where they were the cutest diminutive bookends ever, and became friends for life with Gordon, Sarah, Jim, and Linda, and many classmates. After graduation, John began a degree in Forestry at the University of Tennessee and enlisted in the Naval Reserves – where he polished his natural talents of technical drafting and his lifelong predisposition for precision and high standards. After completing his service, he returned to school and to Mary Leonard. They were married in 1956, the day after Mary Leonard graduated from college. They moved to Athens, Georgia where he completed his bachelor's degree, started graduate school and a family. Living on the GI bill in post WWII prefab housing, they made a meager happy life.
After graduating with a master's degree in Forest Products, he joined the US Forest Service where he found his other true love; that of solving technical problems in sawmills. He was mentored by Walt Smith, who with his wife and family continue to be generous friends of our family. He later transferred to Asheville, NC where they enjoyed a big house with a large yard where their children spent many of their formative years. John delighted in introducing his children to the surrounding mountains, its culture and music, the thrill of hiking, camping, whitewater canoeing, and the occasional unanticipated snowstorm. Sunday after Mass meant a dozen Town House doughnuts and a hike somewhere along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Longer adventures entailed John driving the family VW bus through the forests and streams of the Pisgah and Nantahala, Mary Leonard leading rounds and ballads from Songs for Pickin' and Singin', and copious quantities of GORP.
John loved his work traveling around the country with his Forest Service buddies, studying sawmills with their slide rules, stopwatches, and the occasional sledgehammer so they could find where the money was leaking out.
In 1972 John left the Forest Service and the family moved to Cherokee County to pursue his dream of designing, building, and running a brilliantly efficient sawmill. Several years and a market crash later, he rejoined the Forest Service in San Francisco where he devised solutions for sawmills across the West, the Pacific, and Alaska. John commuted and Mary Leonard and the kids figured out how to fit into stucco suburban California. John's favorite family activity remained getting the gang outdoors. Annual summer road trips across the west, with the canoe on top and pop-up camper in tow, and John's occasional errant off-road adventure, became the stuff of legend. In 1979, John moved on to Washington DC to champion his team of forest technology experts across the country and wrestle with bureaucracy. With every move the children peeled off to make their own lives.
John's sunset tour before retirement included moves to Honduras, the Tropical Forest Research Laboratory in Puerto Rico and travels in international forestry. At that point it was just John and Mary Leonard and the coqui frogs. The kids were dispersed across the country and around the world.
With 30+ years of federal service behind him, John finally was able to return to his beloved mountains of WNC. They moved to Black Mountain in 1997, where John was a prodigious producer of sawdust in his basement workshop and played almost all the golf he ever dreamed of with his fellow Geritol Duffers, while Mary Leonard began a career as a politico.
Never idle, he quickly engaged in the community, working at Town Hardware and the Black Mountain Golf Course, and joining Saint Margaret Mary Catholic Church, where he and Mary Leonard have been active parishioners for over 25 years. Their steep driveway, three levels of stairs and nagging children convinced them to move to Highland Farms, where they settled into a community of wonderful friends and neighbors.
John will forever be known as a farm boy, altar boy, sawmill man, baby whisperer, tree and wood identifier, nature lover, adventurer, avid golfer, knife sharpener, woodworker, tool fabricator, maker of excellent pimiento cheese, and an undaunted problem solver who always wanted to be useful. He gave his children a love of travel, a confidence in their own abilities, an expectation of doing things correctly, and an awareness of how fortunate they were to be in the family environment he created with his wife Mary Leonard. His enduring love of family, his faith, his generosity, his joy in serving others, and his partnership with his wife Mary Leonard, have been examples of how to be a good man that inspire the generations to follow.
He was a loving husband, brother, father, uncle, grandfather, great grandfather, friend, and we are all better people to have known his love. John was preceded in death by his son Hunter White of Asheville; his parents, William Thomas White and Helen Richmond White; and his siblings Ann, William, Mary Agnes, and Patricia.
He is survived by his treasured brother Joseph (Jenny) White of Wartburg, TN, Mary Leonard White, his cherished wife of 68 years, his children Peter White (Cyndi Rapenske) of Vilas, NC, Andy White (Nancy Branberg) of Arlington, VA, Phil White of Burnsville, NC, Katherine Conklin (Tom) of Manassas, VA, Margaret Brown (Warren) of Gainesville, VA, grandchildren Colin White, Elise Conklin Kimpflen (Mike), Peter Conklin, John Ponder White, Olivia Brown Gabhart (Ian), Jacob White, Callum Conklin, and Elliot Brown, great-grandchild Cora Kimpflen, and countless loving nieces and nephews, cousins and in-laws.
A Funeral Mass will be held at St Margaret Mary Catholic Church in Swannanoa, NC at 2:00 on the 15th of November, 2024. Following Mass, the family will gather at 3:00 with friends, food, and song in the church hall.
A private burial will be held at a later date. Those desiring to make a memorial contribution are encouraged to consider John's favorite local organization, the Black Mountain Home for Children, Youth & Families.