Ruth Elaine White

Elaine White, born Ruth Elaine Rhoer on January 19, 1937, in Webster City, Iowa passed away August 15, 2024, in Spearfish, South Dakota. She was the fourth of five children born to Paul and Vera (Simmons) Rhoer. 

Elaine grew up in America’s Golden Age. Although their family of seven worked hard to make ends meet, they never went without necessities. Elaine and her siblings helped care for the family’s vegetable garden, rabbits, chickens and milk cow the family raised. With many hands working together, their table was always amply provided with nutritious, home-cooked meals. Elaine’s father was a house painter, and her mother took on washing and ironing, sold eggs, and made butter, homemade bread, cakes, and cookies for her brood of five children.

Elaine’s parents moved to Southern California when she was a young schoolgirl. The family made the journey by train, each taking only the most necessary belongings. They moved in with relatives until they were able to find a place of their own they could afford.

As the children got older, the five siblings would have a baseball game almost every night after dinner. This is where Elaine’s lifelong love of baseball was born. In fact, one of Elaine’s most loved possessions was a bible gifted to her by her parents and brother Claire. Art Lilly scouted Claire, and he played for the New York Yankees Minor League team before being drafted into the Korean War. In the Bible Claire wrote, "From a good baseball player to a better baseball player."

The four girls began taking singing and music lessons. Soon their quartet began traveling to churches throughout Southern California as, The Rhoer Sisters, singing hymns in perfect harmony wearing matching dresses lovingly made by their mother, an accomplished seamstress. Elaine learned to play the accordion and piano. Her accordion was a precious instrument that she would later sometimes play for her own children and grandchildren.

After all her siblings married, Elaine was concerned she might remain single. Then, on a road trip to a church camp to help her sister Arlene and brother-in-law Lyle, the classic tale of boy meets girl took place. Elaine’s car broke down and Lyle brought the fastest hotrodder and best mechanic at the camp, Tommy White, to Elaine’s rescue. As Tommy was looking over the engine and Elaine struck a Hollywood pose in her 50’s attire, her grandfather, James Elmer Simmons, snapped a picture of the moment they met with his little Brownie camera. This photo is cherished by her family, and was sketched and framed for Elaine as a gift from her children. The two were married on March 7, 1958.

The couple had three children and lived in Lynwood, California. Elaine loved being a wife and mother and excelled at both. She raised her three children with the same values as her parents had raised her; instilling the virtues of hard work, unity, compassion, respect, support and love for one another. Her mothering instincts were caring, tender, and warm; yet she wasn’t shy about being a disciplinarian when needed. She often said that when growing up she felt a great deal of love, and a healthy respect, mixed with a bit of fear, for her parents that served her well when tempted to misbehave. The same strategy worked wonders on her own children. Elaine was also at the core of family fun and activities that have built a treasure trove of hilarious antics, unintended outcomes, and a lifetime of investing all she had into her children.

The family moved to the Great State of Texas in 1969, where Tommy opened his own air conditioning business, Southwest Mobile Air. Although Elaine worked at a couple of banks and a few other companies while her children completed their schooling, she was always more focused on her children, their activities and being a mother. She rarely missed any of her son’s baseball games. Although not adventurous, Elaine traveled to Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas, and almost all fifty states, including Hawaii, on various fun-filled vacations with family and friends.

In 2014, after 56 years of marriage, Elaine became a widow. She had spent five years caring for and visiting Tommy in a nearby care facility before his passing. Living alone, for the first time in her life, she became the caretaker of her home, learning to mow using her husband’s tractor, and enjoyed sewing for hours at a time, even into the wee hours of the morning. Elaine had also began making baby blankets for expectant firefighters from the City of Carrollton Fire Department where her son, Bill, worked 12 years earlier. Over the course of about 20 years, she made well over 200 baby blankets; complete with the expectant baby’s name hand embroidered on their blanket and her trademark crocheted Mr or Mrs Wiggles toy. These blankets became a cherished possession for many of the babies and their families. When they grew up some of the recipients even took their blankets with them to college. Elaine loved making these blankets, and on occasion even met and held the babies who received them.

Elaine sold her home in Lavon, Texas and moved in with her daughter and son- in-law in 2022. Although she loved Texas and her home, she didn’t want to live alone anymore. She spent most of her time in Spearfish sewing with her daughter in their sky-high sewing room overlooking the Black Hills National Forest. She enjoyed observing the abundant wildlife in the beautiful Black Hills. Her favorites were the young, white-spotted fawns in the spring that pranced and played in the yard just below her sewing room hideaway.

For the woman who gave so much to her family, and especially to her children and grandchildren; to the firefighters’ families and new babies from Carrollton, Texas; the many friends she remained in contact with from California and Texas; and the new and dear friends she made in South Dakota from Heartfelt Quilt Shop, they all responded with offers of help, prayer and support at the news of her illness. Elaine passed away quietly at her daughter and son-in-law’s home in Spearfish, South Dakota. In the last months of her life she was constantly surrounded by her three children who tended to her every need. Her entire family grieves the loss of her beautiful soul, vivacious spirit, and the matriarch of their family, yet they find comfort knowing that Elaine, who has been a child of God her entire life, today rests with abundant peace and joy in the arms of our Savior.

Elaine was preceded in death by her parents, Paul and Vera (Simmons) Rhoer; husband, Thomas Edward White; grandson Jamison Patrick Hogan; sisters, Katherine Arnell, Beverly Martin and brother Claire Rhoer; son-in-law Buddy Reeves; and niece Sabrina Nason.

Elaine is survived by her three children, Tammy (White) Reeves of Liberty Lake, Washington; Debbie (White) Hogan (Jerry) of Spearfish, South Dakota; Bill White (Diane Vacanti White) of Lucas, Texas; grandchildren Chris Reeves (Kelsey), Daniel Reeves, Heather Reeves, Matthew Reeves, Jarod Hogan (Kristel), Hailey White, Lane White; great-grandchildren, Blaine Reeves, Parker Reeves, Alaia Hogan, Kaia Hogan; sister Arlene Smith of La Mirada, California; nieces and nephews Stanley Smith (Nancy), Karla Mitchell (Jerry), Rodney Smith (Cindy), Darla Rodriquez (Nester), Billy Arnell, Donna Arnell, David Arnell, Micheal Rhoer, Patricia Rhoer, and Jason Ty Rhoer.

The funeral service will be held at 10:00 AM, Monday, August 26, 2024 at Charles W. Smith and Sons Funeral Home, 2343 Lake Road, Lavon, Texas.