Dion White's Obituary
Dion White, aka “Scoop, Luva My Brotha”, “Dezo”, “Son”, “Rufus No Toothus”, “Blockhead”, “No Doubt” and “Brooklyn”, was the fifth child of seven children born to Helen Marie White on September 22, 1970, in Brooklyn, NY. His father, Curtis Taylor, passed away when Dion was five years old. Although he was quite young when his father passed, Dion often shared how he could recall running into his dad’s arms, when he came home and feeling that fatherly love.
At the age of 6, he gained a devoted father figure in Willie Curtis (Red), his mother’s partner. They had his youngest and seventh sibling, Sabrina. Both Willie and his mother Helen, preceded him in death in 1981 and 2007, respectively.
As one of the younger siblings, he often shared how pivotal his older siblings were in his young life. Having a large family was a great joy to him. He saw it as a huge privilege and it shaped him into the man we knew and loved.
Dion LOVED Brooklyn. You couldn’t tell him nothing, when it came to Brooklyn. His stories of the happenings on St. John & Franklin Ave, were legendary. He often talked about how he’d do odd jobs for their doorman, to make pocket change for cookies & candy. He shared how blessed he was to live in such a tight-knit community, where everyone’s doors were open and every kid was welcomed in every home.
After family, Dion’s greatest passion was basketball. He played basketball day in and day out, throughout his childhood and into his young adult life. In the process, his teammates became a tight group of lifelong friends.
Dion graduated from Prospect Heights High School in Brooklyn, NY, in 1990. He played point guard on the varsity basketball team and in 1988 and 1989, that group of lifelong teammates won the NY High School Basketball State Championship. They had a female coach and they even made a movie about it called, “Sunset Park”.
Due to an ankle injury, after graduation, he pivoted his passion from basketball to art design and enrolled at Parsons: School of Design in NYC, where he earned an Associate of Arts in Art Direction, Design & Development. He also attended Katherine Gibbs School of Media Design in NYC, and received an Associate of Arts in Visual Communications.
In the late 90s, Dion became reacquainted with a high school friend, (Mary) Leslie Hogan. Their relationship grew and they were married on his birthday, September 22nd, 2000. From this union, he gained two beautiful young sons, Jermaine Hogan and (Kirk) Chandler McIntosh. He didn’t believe in the term step-son. He loved them as his own, just as Willie had loved him. Sadly, shortly into their marriage, Leslie was diagnosed with cancer. After a hard fight, she passed on January 18th, 2003. After her passing, Dion remained devoted to his boys. Even after they relocated with biological family members, he never relinquished his role as “Pops”. Jermaine preceded him in death in 2016.
In 2004, Dion met Dawncelie Johnson, when he visited Tacoma for the first time, for the momentous occasion of his sis-in-law in chief, Cynthia, graduating from college and his nephew, Naquan, graduating from high school, on the same day. Although Dawncelie had been a family friend for 17 years, they had never met. After aggressive urging from his brother, Phillip, they kicked off a conversation that evolved into a friendship, that evolved into a 20-year love story. In 2006, he moved to Tacoma, after a hard-fought for, 2 years long, long-distance relationship and they were married on August 9th, 2008. To that union, he gained another son, Darius Johnson.
Upon arrival in Washington, he expanded his career in graphic animation & design and held Creative Director and UI/UX Designer positions at various companies & organizations, including KING 5 TV, the US Dept of Defense, the University of WA, the WA State Association of Counties and the City of Seattle.
In 2020, he had to retire, due to a serious health condition and he began his valiant fight to stay with us, as long as he could. He showed resilient spirit in his perpetual kindness, joy, generosity and caring for all those around him. Dion had so much more life to live, but in his 53 years, he gave us his whole heart and more, as an amazing son, brother and uncle, then husband, father and grandfather.
In addition to those stated above, Dion was preceded in death by his brothers; Shawn White, Phillip White and Lance White.
He is survived by his wife of 16 years, Dawncelie White; his son and grandsons, Darius Johnson, Mycah Johnson and Keomani Johnson of Tacoma, WA; his son and granddaughter, Chandler McIntosh and Ava McIntosh of Englewood, NJ; his sisters, Ruby White (Tab) of Brooklyn, NY and Sabrina White of Irving, Texas and his brother Curtis White (Carol) of Brooklyn, NY. He is also survived by a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, in-laws, godchildren, extended family and friends.
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