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Walter Wm. "Bill" White, age 84, died Thursday, February 16, 2006 at home of respiratory failure, COPD. He was born May 13, 1921 in Milwaukee WI. His parents were William Sanford White and Eva Browning White. He learned to fly an airplane before he was old enough to drive a car. He graduated from the School of Public and International Affairs (now the Woodrow Wilson School) Princeton University in 1943. On the way to Army Officer Candidate School at Ft. Sill, OK, he married Julia Brackett Carson in Milwaukee, June 11, 1943. At Ft. Sill he was commissioned 2nd Lt., Field Artillery, in August 1943. He was assigned to the China-Burma-India Theater, where he served first in New Galahad, successor to Merrill's Maurauders, in Burma and then as a liaison officer with the Chinese Army in Burma and China until the end of hostilities. During his C-B-I service he was in three major campaigns. He left active military duty as a captain in June 1946. Bill returned to Milwaukee where he joined the junior executive training program with a major manufacturing firm. In the summer of 1949 he was accepted in a Master's Program at the School of International Affairs, Columbia University. After a year, Bill transferred to a Ph.D. Program in Columbia's Department of Public Law and Government. Bill's GI Bill entitlement ran out in 1952, and, by then the father of two daughters, he left Columbia "ABD" (All But Dissertation) to teach international politics and Asian history at Sarah Lawrence College. Bill was recruited by the CIA and joined the Agency in December 1953. His 20-year career as an intelligence analyst included 12 years of service at headquarters and 8 years in overseas posts. Bill was on the China Desk for all but 2 of those years, serving at headquarters as Chief, China Division, Office of Current Intelligence. He served for 6 years as Senior Intelligence Officer in Taipei Station. Bill's last Agency service was as Chief, Intelligence Analysis Branch, Saigon Station. For his work in Saigon Bill received a commendation from Ambassador Bunker in 1973. He retired from the Agency in 1973. Moving to Albuquerque NM in the fall of 1974, Bill began a new career by enrolling in UNM's Guidance and Counseling Program. In June 1977, he received his Masters Degree in Guidance and Counseling and was then a psychotherapist on the staff of the Albuquerque Center for Psychotherapy for 8 years. Active in politics as soon as he was free of the Hatch Act, Bill worked for the Democratic Party in New Mexico, serving on the State Central Committee and as Precinct Chair. He worked in Sen. Jeff Bingaman's campaigns, was Campaign Treasurer for NM Rep. Danice Picraux and in state senate campaigns. He was a member of the New Mexico Symphony Chorus for 26 years and served on the NMSO Board of Trustees for many years. A lifelong Episcopalian, he served on the Bishop's Committee in Taipei, and at St. Christopher's Mission in Saigon. In Albuquerque Bill was on the Vestry at St. Thomas of Canterbury for 12 years and served as both Junior and Senior Warden. Bill's life was a quiet example of "Princeton in the Nation's Service." Survivors include his wife, Julia Carson White; and his daughters: Susan Greenwood White and daughter, Morgan Katherine White; Gauri Karoli (nee Florence Carson White) and daughters, Gauri Ganga Little and her son, Metzpli, Yamuna Roxanne Little, and Maria Bhadra Kali Little; Lavinia Browning White and husband, Stefan George; and despondent boxer dog, Abigail Adams, the last of many wonderful boxers in his life. The Funeral will be on Saturday, February 25, 2006, at 10:30 a.m., at St. Thomas of Canterbury Episcopal Church, 425 University Blvd. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87106. In lieu of flowers please make donations in memory of Bill White to St. Thomas of Canterbury Episcopal Church or to the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, PO Box 30208, Albuquerque NM 87109-0208.
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