Joan Peterson White

Raised in: Alexandria, VAResided in: Houston, TXPassed in: Washington, DC

Joan P. White, aged 78, passed away peacefully in her sleep on Tuesday morning, June 11, 2024, in Washington, DC with her only son, Christopher, and his family.

Joan was raised in southern Alexandria, VA, near Mount Vernon, with her younger brother Bernie, by her parents Roy and Margaret June. She attended St. Mary’s Parochial School from grades 1-8, and St. Mary’s Academy from grades 9-12. The family attended weekly Mass and Holy Days together at the Basilica of St. Mary’s in Alexandria throughout her childhood.

Joan met her future husband locally in Washington, DC, then re-located with him to attend the University of Texas at Austin, from where she graduated in 1969 with degrees in government and economics. Thereafter, Joan moved to Houston, TX to start her professional life. She would often proudly recall her ambition to make it as a woman in a man’s world there in the late 1960’s. She decided to pursue a career as a financial advisor, and sought work with wealth management companies. She laughingly recalled when she made her career goals clear in one of her first interviews, the male interviewer replied: “But you’re a woman!” To which Joan quipped back, “Yes, I am, and if I don’t do a good enough job, you can let me go!” She won that job, and then a couple of years later transferred companies to work at Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner and Smith, where she remained happily employed as a certified financial advisor for over 40 years.

Joan was a dedicated career woman. Her thirst for learning and improving and performing well for her clients was unstoppable. Her son recalls listening to NPR on the car ride home from school every day, and then watching her watch the news while she cooked dinner. “I’m going to watch the news,” she would say. As a young boy, Christopher thought the name for that black box on the kitchen counter was “the news.” Even on Saturday mornings, Christopher remembers waking up and quietly walking into the living room to find his mom already sitting on the sofa, focused on the political and financial sections of the newspaper. (He would then shout, “Boo!”) She took great care and pride in advising her clients on how best to budget and manage their money, and in helping them grow their respective nest eggs through investing.

For Joan, her career was not in search of fame and fortune. Eternally true to her family upbringing and her Catholic faith, she was a humble, frugal, hard-working person to the core. She knew who she was, true to her own character day in and day out, and could not be swayed by outside forces. She clearly and consistently taught her son to beware of the many consumer and other questionable targets put forth by our culture. She opposed the notion that a person’s well-being and happiness depend fundamentally on obtaining consumer goods and material possessions. Rather, Joan celebrated faith, integrity, purpose, and companionship with family and friends.

In her early thirties, Joan both got divorced and was diagnosed with a rare neurological condition called Hereditary Spastic Paraparesis (HSP), an adult-onset, degenerative condition that causes spasticity and weakness in the leg muscles. Despite these challenges, Joan was faithful to her ambitions and made it her mission to accomplish everything that she wished for in life, especially raising her son and her career. She never used her physical handicap as an excuse or a bargaining chip, but quite the opposite. Joan always expressed gratitude that she didn’t have any worse condition, and empathy for those in the world under worse circumstances. Joan would not want us to feel sorry for her in any way, but rather to follow her example and put our words and actions to good use as productive members of society. She worked through her career and raised her son with grace and an ever-present sense of humor and joy to be around family, friends and colleagues.

Joan was a deeply supportive and thoughtful mother for Christopher, and all of his close childhood friends who regularly traipsed through her house, for she believed that strong companionship with great people is fundamental to a happy life. Even after the divorce, Joan made a conscious and concerted effort to stay close to her in-laws on Christopher’s father’s side, in the interest of supporting all of his family connections. Those relationships remain strong to this day. The words of support and remembrance that have poured out from his friends and family in the days since Joan’s passing are a testament to the lasting bonds and positive influence that her character had on others.

Joan was laser focused on providing Christopher with the best possible upbringing for his own future benefit. All the way from coaching his little league team, Joan was dedicated and unstoppable, despite her handicap. Although her walking was already difficult, she took him on trips, including to Egypt to visit her brother, who relocated there for work for a few years with his wife and children, Christopher’s cousins. In Egypt, Joan trudged through the sands to see all of the sites with her son. She dropped him off at Georgetown University in person for college, and flew with him to Dublin, Ireland for study-abroad. Even after she was in a wheelchair, Joan traveled to Cambridge, MA for his graduation from graduate school in architecture, and a few years later flew alone from Houston to Belgrade, Serbia, for a beautiful destination wedding with his wife, her family and all their friends. She traveled alone to visit them in New York City several times, especially to meet her grandson. HSP and a wheelchair were no stop for Joan.

Joan is survived by her son, her daughter-in-law, and her grandson, with whom she shared a love of ice cream and letting him jump on her bed; and her daughter-in-law’s parents, who would see her daily and lovingly call Joan their sister when they would bring her homemade treats for dessert; and her brother, sister-in-law, and beloved niece and nephews; and her sisters- and brothers-in-law and nieces and nephews on Christopher’s father’s side.

We are happy and grateful to have spent the last four years of Joan’s life together in our home in Washington, DC. We are happy and grateful to have spent the last four years of Joan’s life together in our home in Washington, DC. We will miss her dearly, but that bright smile of hers will shine in our minds and her spirit will live on inside all of us.

A Visitation will take place at De Vol Funeral Home, 2222 Wisconsin Avenue in Washington, DC, on Friday, June 21 from 2-4pm. A Funeral Mass will be held at the Basilica of St. Mary’s in Alexandria, VA (310 S. Royal Street) on Saturday, June 22, 2024, at 1pm.

In lieu of flowers, for those interested in making a donation in honor of Joan, please consider the Spastic Paraplegia Foundation, dedicated to advancing research and finding cures for two groups of closely related, progressive neurological disorders: Primary Lateral Sclerosis (PLS) and Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP). As Joan always noted, there are many people in the world with worse problems, so let’s help them. https://sp-foundation.networkforgood.com/projects/228779-christopher-white-s-fundraiser-in-memory-of-joan-white