HOME SURNAME LIST NAME INDEX GEDCOM FILE EMAIL US | Jerry LeRoy WHITE was born on Apr 8 1936 at home at 229 N. Drexel Ave. in Indianapolis, Indiana with no one present except he and his mother. His mother Maryann (nee NOBLITT) tells that when she felt the labor pains and knew the birth was near, she sent Betty, Jerry's sister, next door to tell the neighbor to; 1) Call the doctor and tell him "It's time" and he better hurry; 2) Call Jerry's father at work, tell him "It's time to take her to the hospital", and tell him to hurry; 3) Bring the neighbor back to be with her until help arrived and she better hurry. Everyone was on their way but Jerry got there first. When he was 8 years old in 1944 his Uncle Andy came to visit in his Navy uniform and told of the big ships and vast oceans, Jerry was hooked and said from that time that he would join the Navy and learn a trade just like his Uncle Andy. He joined the Navy after graduating from High School and served on active duty from 1955 to 1958 aboard the heavy cruiser USS Salem CA139. The USS Salem was the Flagship of the Sixth Fleet and as such was stationed for over two years in the Mediterranean visiting such ports of call as France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia, Turkey, Lebanon and North Africa to name a few. He was trained in electronics in the Navy and used that to his advantage throughout his life. He worked for AT&T for almost 30 years in electronics testing and repair, supervision and about half of that career was spent in direct customer sales. During his career with the Bell System he was assigned to many cities including Indianapolis, South Bend IN, Morristown NJ, and Middletown, Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus OH. He retired from AT&T in 1987. He tried full time retirement for a year or two but was bored and went to work for Mead Data Central (Lexis/Nexis) as a systems analyst for 5 years before retiring from there in 1994. He again tried full retirement but was bored and went to work in 1995 for the Bellefontaine Ohio Examiner Newspaper as an Advertising Executive and retired from there in December of 1998. This time the retirement appears to be final. Jerry is a 32 Degree Scottish Rite Mason and an active member of the Bellefontaine Knights Templar, York Rite Masonic Order and a Kentucky Colonel. In 2003 Jerry and Sandee moved to Sun City Hilton Head in Bluffton, South Carolina. Jerry picked up a tenor guitar from ebay, started a music group called the Sun City Strummers in 2005 and there are currently 38 resident members. Then in 2017 he started the Strummer Ukulele Group wich currently has 43 members. Both Groups play for assisted living/nursing homes in the area as well as for various other Sun City club activities throughout the year. |