Mr. White, age 99, died April 29, 2013 at Plantation Estates, Matthews, N.C. A memorial service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on May 4th at Myers Park Presbyterian Church, with a reception immediately following in the church fellowship hall.
Ed was born March 14, 1914, the son of the late Hugh E. White and Mary Green White. He grew up in Gastonia and graduated from Gastonia High School in 1930. He attended Davidson College in 1931, but after his freshman year, returned to Gastonia, where he began his career in architecture as a draftsman during the Depression in the office of his father, one of the first architects in the Carolinas.
In 1940 he entered Georgia Tech to resume his study of architecture. He received his bachelor’s degree there in 1943, immediately followed by his commissioning in the U.S. Navy at Columbia University Midshipman’s School. In World War II, he served aboard the USS Dixie and the USS Telfair in the Pacific theater for three years, including landings for invasion of Hiroshima and Okinawa, where his ship was under Kamikaze attacks. After his discharge as Lt. J. G. in 1946, he joined the firm of Walter Hook, Architect, in Charlotte. The firm, noted for its excellence in design of health care facilities in North and South Carolina and Virginia, was named Freeman White Associates in 1968. Before Mr. White’s retirement as Vice President in 1981, he was involved in the firm’s civic educational and governmental projects. His favorite project was the first Charlotte Douglass Air Terminal building, which he helped design and direct in 1952.
Mr. White was one of the founders of the Charlotte Section of American Institute of Architects and member of the North Carolina chapter of AIA. He was a member of the Downtown Charlotte Rotary Club, director of Charlotte Senior Forum, and President of Charlotte Astronomy Club. He was Handyman Coordinator of Shepherd’s Center, and for 14 years he and his wife, Harriet, delivered Friendship Trays.
A Member of Myers Park Presbyterian Church, he served as deacon and an elder, Chairman of Building and Grounds Committee, and member of Christian Life Center Building Committee. A long time supporter of Scouting, he served as Troop Committee Chairman, and Mecklenburg Council Boy Scout Commissioner.
Ed shared his love of nature and the out of doors with his family and friends. He had fond memories pointing out the constellations to children in his neighborhood, and the snow hikes with other fathers and sons on the Appalachian Trail in the winter.
Ed and Harriet lived on Portland Avenue for 45 years and raised their two children there. In January 1996, they moved to Plantation Estates in Matthews, North Carolina, where they spent 17 happy years together, while Ed worked on numerous projects, including the picnic gardens and tree identifications.
Mr. White is predeceased by his three sisters, Elizabeth White Cathey, Ann White Barkley, and Virginia White Bailey. He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Harriet Glasgow White; son, Hugh Edward White, Jr. and wife, Jan, of Union County; daughter, Lucy Glasgow White Williams and husband, David, of Henderson, Kentucky; six grandchildren, Rebecca Williams Mueller and Patricia Williams Crocker, Cara White Hunter, Mary White Spence, Thomas Edward White, and Walker Hugh White; nine great-grandchildren, and one more on the way, Catie, Anna, Luke, Elijah, Hope, Micah, Leah, Paul, and Stuart; and also by several nieces and nephews. Ed could always be found enjoying his family: playing with the children on the floor or reading classic literature to them, and even getting to hold his ninth great-grandchild.
Memorial contributions may be made in his honor to Boy Scouts of America, Myers Park Presbyterian Church Building Fund, and Hospice of Charlotte.
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