Ralph Allen White

White - Dr. Ralph Allen White, age 78, died on Sunday, May 8, 2011, while receiving palliative care at Mercy Residential Hospice in Halls Crossroads, Tennessee. He died of complications of Alzheimer’s Disease. He was born in 1933, in Greeneville, Tenn., the second of three children born to Mabel Mills White, and the third of five children of Clarence Robert White. Upon completing high school in Greeneville, he attended Carson-Newman College (Jefferson City, Tenn.) and then the University of Tennessee College of Dentistry (Memphis). He married Carolyn Tolliver in 1956, on the same day that he and Carolyn were graduated from Carson-Newman College. After completing dental school in 1957, he began three years of active duty in the U.S. Army Dental Corps, serving at Fort Benning, Georgia. From 1960 to 1962, he completed an M.S. in orthodontics at the University of Tennessee College of Dentistry, and then began a private practice of dentistry, specializing in orthodontics, in Kingsport, Tenn. He continued the practice of orthodontics, based in Kingsport and also serving the Greeneville community at times, until his retirement in August 1999. During his professional career, Ralph became active in serving several professional organizations, often in leadership positions. A member of the Kingsport Dental Society, he also served in the Tennessee Dental Association (speaker - house of delegates), American Dental Association, Tennessee Association of Orthodontists (founding member and a term as president), and Southern Association of Orthodontists (member - board of directors; chairman - history committee; president - 1987). In 1999, the Southern Association of Orthodontists presented him with a distinguished service award. He also served the American Association of Orthodontists as member - board of directors; chairman of committees on bylaws revision and orthodontic education; and speaker - house of delegates. The American Association of Orthodontists honored him with a distinguished service award in 1993. He relished the opportunities to learn new and more effective methods of orthodontic treatment, to help dental and orthodontic professional organizations' members to develop and grow professionally, and to enable patients to feel good about their smiles. While living in the Kingsport area, he and his wife raised four children. He had a life-long passion for photography, and he enjoyed visiting the region's beautiful mountains and countryside. As a youth, he enjoyed playing basketball, and as a father he coached a middle school basketball team (ca. 1970). During 2003, he and his wife re-located to Powell, Tenn. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Carolyn, of Powell; children, Brent A. White and his wife, Jackie, of Bridgewater, New Jersey, Barry E. White and his wife, Patricia, of Augusta, Georgia, Amy C. White and her husband, Jason Roberts, of Denver, and Angie M. White Rehder and her husband, Kenneth, of Knoxville; grandchildren, Kelvin E. White, Trenton L. White, Chandler B. White, Allen B. Rehder, and Emma Caroline Rehder; step-grandchildren, Kathleen R. Fackler and Patrick B. Fackler; sisters, Elizabeth A. White Graham and her husband, Billy, of Carthage, North Carolina, and F. Evelyn White Wilson and her husband, Chuck, of Columbus, Georgia; and half-sister, Sandra S. White Perry, of Powell. Ralph is additionally survived by several nephews and nieces. He was preceded in death by his half-brother, Robert Clarence White, who died in 2000. A service honoring his life will be held on Tuesday, May 10, at 6:00 PM at First Baptist Church, 510 West Main Street, Knoxville. The family will receive friends immediately following the service, until 8:00 PM. Family and friends will meet at 11:30 AM on Wednesday, May 11 at the Andrew Johnson National Cemetery in Greeneville, TN for the interment service. Donations may be directed to the Carson-Newman College Scholarship Fund which has been established in honor of Mabel Mills White or to the Erwin Health Care Center, 100 Stalling Lane, Erwin, TN, 37650. Online condolences may be offered at www.rosemortuary.com. Arrangements by Rose Mortuary Broadway Chapel.

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Ralph Allen White

April 10, 1933 - May 8, 2011