Olin "Carl" White

Olin "Carl" White, died October 11, 2007, at Oak Tree Villa in Scotts Valley, California

"Carl" White, a former city councilman and mayor of Santa Cruz, was born April 11, 1913, in Dalton, Arkansas. His father, James Madison White and his mother "Effie" Baker White, pioneered a small farm in the heart of the Ozark Mountains. After graduating from Pocahontas High School in 1932, 19 year old Carl "escaped" the farm, traveled to Iowa, found a job at FW Woolworth, and in 1935 managed a dime store in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he met and married his wife, Faythe Alvera Rear.

WWII interrupted Carl's pre-seminary studies at Anderson College in Anderson, Indiana. Between 1940 and 1945, Carl, a skilled carpenter, helped build wooden gliders that would transport troops into battle fields across Europe and supervised the construction of temporary housing for Kaiser shipyard workers building Victory Ships in Richmond, California.

Carl and Faythe's first child, James Melville White SCHS '58 was born, June 26, 1940, in Palo Alto, California. As WWII ended, Carl moved his family to Santa Cruz where he purchased and managed the 66 unit Seabright Courts, launched his career as a Santa Cruz County building contractor, and celebrated the birth of his second son, Marshall Noel White SCHS '63 born March 21, 1945 in Santa Cruz Memorial Hospital. A third son, Dennis Carlton White was born January 20, 1950, and died just 13 years later from spinal meningitis after a biking accident in Portland, Oregon. During the winter of 1952, the White family welcomed into their home foster-daughter Judith Ann Barth now Judith Hillman SCHS '58. Carl and Faythe White often opened their home on a long term basis to other children including Gus Cordero, a 12 year old with hearing impairment and Lance and Becky Rowan whose parents had died.

Carl was elected to the Santa Cruz City Council in 1955 on the eve of the infamous "Christmas flood" that same year. He served as Mayor 1957-1958 until he was appointed Executive Director of the Redevelopment Agency commissioned to rebuild much of downtown Santa Cruz from Water St. to Soquel Ave. and from Ocean St. to Front St. A committed Christian layman, Carl designed and helped build Camp Monte Cristo, a summer camp in the Santa Cruz mountains, a church campground in Nevada City, the main sanctuary and educational wing of the Church of God on Seabright and Broadway, and their new sanctuary on 41st Avenue in Capitola.

In 1967, at 54 years old, Carl registered as a student at Bethany College in Scotts Valley where he completed his degree in Biblical Studies in 1969. All his life Carl felt "called to minister" and served various congregations as associate pastor, deacon, board member, Sunday School teacher, usher and any other task where needed. In 1980, he was elected Chairman of the local Full Gospel Business Men's Association. In 1981 Carl and Faythe trained in Hawaii with Youth with a Mission to do volunteer missions work in Africa. From 1982-1990 Carl worked with the evangelist Reinhard Boenke as Managing Editor of the All African newspaper the African Messenger.

Before Faythe White's death, December 13, 2001, Carl and Faythe were enthusiastic members of the Santa Cruz RV Club traveling across the US and into Canada first in their "beloved" Winnebego.

The last two years of his life, Carl White lived in Oak Tree Villa in Scotts Valley, California. When asked how he wanted to be remembered, Carl said simply, "I want to be remembered as a nice man." In fact, according to his children, "Dad was not just a nice man. He was a man who lived out Christ's two great commandments: he loved God truly and he loved his neighbor as himself."

A memorial service will be held at the Christian Life Center, 1009 Mission St., in Santa Cruz at 2pm, Wednesday, October 17. For information call 831 426-7733. Carl will be laid to rest in a private family service at Oakwood Memorial Park next to his beloved wife of 63 years, Faythe.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests tax deductible donations be made to Soulforce, P.O. Box 3195, Lynchburg, VA., 24503 www.soulforce.org or to Latin America Child Care www.lacc4hope.org.