Archief - Mary M. White fonds

Born at St. Johns on October 6, 1903, she was the only daughter of William White of Trinity and Lavinia Hopkins Taylor of Bay Roberts who were married at Whitbourne on December 28, 1897. Her elder brothers were Raymond Mayers Taylor White (1899-1937) and Walter George Cornwall White (October 27, 1901 - June 21, 1976). She was descended from two of the oldest Trinity families, the Clothiers and Hurdles, and was an eighth generation Newfoundlander. When she was very young the family returned to Trinity from St. Johns and there she spent her early girlhood years except for several months each year which she spent at Bonne Bay. She died at St. Lukes Home, St. Johns, on August 31, 1995 and is buried next to her father and mother at the Anglican Cemetery, Forest Road, St. John`s.

Her elementary education was taken at Trinity, followed by High School at Bishop Spencer College, St. Johns (1919-1924), where she completed her Senior Associate or Senior Matriculation. This was followed during September through December, 1924 by Teacher Training at the Normal School, St. Johns.

Miss White taught at White Rock, Trinity Bay from January through June, 1925; at Kelligrews from September, 1925 to June 1926, Petty Harbour from September 1926 through December 1927; and was appointed to the staff of Bishop Spencer College commencing in January, 1927. She remained at Spencer as a staff member, Vice-Principal and Principal until 1963. Miss White was the Lady Superintendent of Bishop Jones Memorial Hostel, a residence for girls attending Bishop Spencer College and Memorial University College, from 1939 to 1950. She was the incumbent Principal at Spencer from 1957 to 1963. In September, 1964 Miss White was appointed Lecturer in French at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Assistant Professor in September 1968, but was obliged to retire from this position because of ill health in October, 1972.

In 1927, she attended summer school at Lycee Victor Duruy, Paris, and spent the full year of 1930-31 in Paris earning the Certificate of Civilization Francaise and the Certificate of Phonetics at the Sorbonne. In 1950, she spent the summer in Brittany, Paris and England and in 1951 at summer school at the Language School, Middlebury College, Vermont. This was followed by summer school at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York from 1951 to 1955 and full-time attendance at Columbia in 1955/56, thus completing a B.S.C. and M.A. in Education from that institution. The summers of 1959 and 1960 were spent in Paris attending lectures at the Sorbonne attending lectures in Civilization Francaise.

The summers of 1965 through 1970 were also spent in Paris researching the French in Newfoundland in the 18th and 19th centuries, this was an area of high interest for Miss White. A year of sabbatical leave from MUN in 1970/71 was again spent in Paris continuing this research.