PRISCILLA HARMON WHITE's Obituary
Priscilla Harmon White died June 14, 2017 from cardiac arrest, near the home she cherished for 61 years in Palo Alto, California. She was born in 1925 in Watertown, Massachusetts to Grace (Pendleton) Harmon and William Robertson Harmon. One of five children, Priscilla grew up in Willimantic, Connecticut at the family home called Oak Knoll. She married Kenneth Erwin White in 1946 and moved to California. She attended Connecticut State Teachers College and graduated from San Jose State University in1947.Priscilla’s life revolved around her family and community. While raising three children, she also taught 2nd grade in Ravenswood school district in East Palo Alto for 25 years and served as a Girl Scout leader. She was a mentor teacher and a reading specialist, and a member of Delta Kappa Gamma Sorority. She was a superb cook and the consummate hostess and, in later life, a devoted grandmother and a dedicated volunteer for Friends of the Palo Alto Library, The Gamble House and Gardens, and Museum of American Heritage. Reading was her favorite hobby, followed closely by jigsaw puzzles, gardening, knitting and other stitchery crafts.Survivors include her younger sister, Betty-Lou Harmon, two daughters, Penelope Anne White Hughes and Susan Pendleton Holzer-White, and her son, Jon MacLeay White, and four grandsons, Kyle Shane Hughes and Erik-Logan Hughes, Kevin Alan White and Andrew Scott White, two granddaughters, Sophie Johanna and Katharina Siguné Holzer-White, and sons-in-law Richard Hughes and Edi Holzer, and daughter-in-law Christine Lam White.Priscilla was predeceased by her husband Ken in 2005, by her brothers William Robertson Harmon in 2006, Douglas Stuart Harmon in 2017, and by her sister Dorothy Pendleton Harmon Bell in 2015, and by three of her grandchildren, twins Rachel and Ashley White in 1987 and Nicolai Alexander Holzer-White in 1990. In accordance with her wishes, there will be no formal service. Memorial donations may be made to The Friends of the Palo Alto Library.
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