Walter "Tiger" White's Obituary
Walter “Tiger” White
Walter was born March 6, 1917 in Washington DC to Granville & Luray White. He peacefully left this earth on May 31, 2015 at 98 years young, at his residence, since January 2007, Kindred Transitional Care and Rehabilitation Lakewood. He was one of 11 children and the last of his siblings to pass. He suffered for a number of years from the disease Alzheimer’s/Dementia.
In the late 1930’s, Walter one of the first black ‘transit operators’ working underground in the Georgetown section of Washington D.C., where he manually maneuvered trolleys onto other tracks as they came through the Georgetown station.
In 1942, he joined the Army, which extended to a 24 year career. He was active in the medical corps.
As an amateur boxer in the military, Walter was known to have the 'eye of the Tiger' in the ring and was given the nickname "Tiger", which stuck with him throughout his life.
Walter spent time at Fort Devens, Massachusetts in the early 1940's; Fort Lawton, Washington, 1948 – 1950; Kyongju, South Korea during the Korean War 1950; Chinon, France from 1954 - 1957; then, in 1957, his final transfer to Madigan Army Medical Center, after using connections to get transferred to Madigan, instead of Arkansas. He retired from the US Army in February, 1966. He then worked for the GSA (General Services Administration) in Auburn, Washington in supply chain logistics and retired from there in the late 1980's.
In 1940 or early 1941, Walter read in Reader’s Digest about the first black family to live in Hershey, Pennsylvania and stated to a close friend that he was going to marry the daughter, Marguerite. A few years later, his sister, Martha, worked in the Pentagon with Marguerite. Unbeknownst to Walter, who did not know this, she brought her home to introduce her to her brother. Unfortunately, Walter worked nights and was asleep when Martha and Marguerite came to the house, and he refused to wake up to meet her. Eventually, Walter and Marguerite met and fell in love. On June 30, 1942, he married Marguerite and took his lovely wife to New York City to see the Empire State Building for their honeymoon. His favorite nickname for her was 'Rita'. Rita died in January 20, 1992.
He and Rita had 6 children, 3 boys and 3 girls. Three children survive, Winnie (David Ideker), Wellington, and Willette. He was preceded in death by wife, Rita, sons and daughter, Walter, Wilhemenia, and Wayne. He is also survived by four grandchildren, Jessica Boyd, Tyler (Jessica) White, Brittany White, Brandon White, one great grandchild, Adrian, and a host of other relatives in Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, and Texas.
We wish to acknowledge the wonderful care, love, and compassion he received at Kindred for eight (8) years.
Donations to the Alzheimer’s Association will be appreciated.
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