| Rowland Kent White |
| MEMORIAL |
Rowland Kent White died Saturday, May 7, 2011 at Washington Home in
Washington D.C. He was 75 years old. Services will be held Monday, May 23 at
11:00 a.m. at St. Frances of Assisi and Quantico National Cemetery, Triangle, VA.
Rowland was born January 8, 1936 in Pensacola, Florida, to Isobel and
Captain Samuel Rowland White, who served directly under Fleet Admiral "Bull"
Halsey in WWII running the supply chain for the entire Pacific Fleet. As a
consequence of his father's position, he spent much of his childhood moving
around the Eastern United States. The happiest part of his childhood was shared
with his sister Betty on Buckfield Plantation in South Carolina. As his father had,
he went by his middle name, Kent.
He attended St. John's College High School in Washington, D.C. and
Pensacola Catholic High School, in Pensacola, Florida, from which he graduated in
May 1953. In school, he particularly excelled in mathematics and literature. When
he was 17, he enlisted in the Marines in Birmingham, Alabama. He trained in
Quantico, Virginia, served four years of Active Duty and two in the Reserves.
While serving, he was honored with the National Defense Service Medal and the
Good Conduct Medal. After his service, he attended Georgetown University for
one year.
Kent was a self-taught engineer and imaginative inventor. He began his career
in the 1960s, and so excelled in his first engineering training course that the
Consolidated Electrodynamics Corp made him an instructor. In his life, he
patented two devices-the first motorcycle turn signal and a tape changer.
He married Eleanor Oscilowski in 1959. With her he had three children, Kent
Christopher, born 1960, Karen Lynn, born 1962, and Carol Leigh, born 1963.
They divorced after fifteen years of marriage. Kent was remarried in 1974 to
Linda Cooper and they divorced in 1977.
A great outdoorsman, he greatly enjoyed hunting and fishing. He especially
loved fly fishing, was known to tie by hand his own flies, and to string his own
bow. He loved to travel and his favorite places in the world were Canada and
Montana. When he could, he enjoyed fishing trips to these two places with close
friends.
Kent had a refined, vibrant, and perspicacious mind. A great lover of the
written word, his favorite writers were Twain, Emerson and the poets Frost and
Whitman. His favorite poem, the Rubaiyat of Omaar Khaayam, tellingly
encourages the reader to seize the day, and emphasizes the importance of leading a
full, present and singular life with agency. He valued honor and intellect above all.
He is survived by his sister Betty Humbert, children Kent, Karen and Carol
White, his grandchildren Gregory, Christina, Amy and Claire White, his former
wives Eleanor White and Linda Cooper, his closest friend of fifty years, Gene
Long, and his dear friends Aline, Nick and Greg Long, Pat and Carol Eggleston.
He passed peacefully on a sunny day at Washington Home in Washington D.C.,
beneath an oak and adjacent to a dogwood flower bush, his daughter Karen by his
side. He was beloved.
Published in The Washington Post on May 20, 2011