Betty Jean White

Betty Jean White (Peters) passed away the eve of Tues. May 10 2022. She was born July 5, 1929 to Hilton Peters and Elizabeth Laverna Bradfield in Santaquin, Utah (which her child daughter, Nedra, advertised as San Quentin). She is survived by a sister, Leila Porter, & a brother, LeRoy Peters, son, Allen Dexter White, daughter, Nedra White. Davidson & her husband, Bob; 5 grandchildren; Tonia Ballard (Daren), Melanie Attebery (Justin), Kevin Davidson (Katie), Danny Davidson (Emilee) & Scott Davidson (Rachel) & 22 great grandchildren & one great great granddaughter. She was preceded in death by her parents, brother, Dean Peters, husband, Howard & granddaughter, Rebecca Welburn. She loved them all intensely. Much of her early life was spent being raised in remote railroad sections in the deserts of southern Nevada. She loved the desert & had no fear hiking by herself even as a young girl. Betty was popular being the only girl on the school bus to Las Vegas. She was able to graduate from Las Vegas High School where she enjoyed playing clarinet in the school’s marching band. A highlight was playing in the Helldorado Days parade which became part of a Roy Rogers movie. At about this time a young man moved to Las Vegas from Kentucky to visit his brother for 2 weeks. J Howard White never went back, but went to work for the Union Pacific railroad. He met & fell madly in love with his bosses daughter, Betty. He pursued her relentlessly with no success until she asked in frustration what he wanted. His answer, “I just want a home & a family” melted her heart & courtship led to marriage. There were hard times with WW2 & loneliness as Howard served in the Navy. He was released from the Navy & they began their family only to have Howard called back to the Navy to serve in the Korean war By this time they had a son & daughter, Allen & Nedra. Much of the raising of 2 babies fell to Betty with help from her mom & dad. While dad was away they let her live in their house on Harvard St.. Their home was in a mining camp called Sloan where dad worked for the lime company. At this time, Betty contracted Tuberculosis & had to spend many months in the City of Hope hospital in California. Dad was working in Sloan, NV & the kids were living with mom’s parents in Mira Loma, Cal. while she was treated. When mom was finally released they were thrilled to go back to Sloan. As they were preparing to leave their son, Allen, jumped off a 35 ft. water tower trying to fly. Once again they were delayed finally getting home because off his injuries. Her love & patience were consistent throughout her challenges & she worked very had to protect her kids from the hardships. All her life she had been a member of the L.D.S. but remote locations precluded activity. When finally back home at Sloan the church visited them. The missionaries taught dad &, due to experiences in his early life, he quickly joined the church. From that point, the church was a very important part of their lives. They were always very active & dad even helped build one of the chapels. They were married in the St. George temple making their civil marriage one for time & all eternity, at the same time, having Allen & Nedra sealed to them forever. They both served for years in the church, mom in primary, young women’s org. & relief society. Her greatest joys in the church were working with teen age girls including many years on staff for summer girls camps. The other great joy was general service of whatever she could do for the sick, poor, lonely. Her home became a meeting place for her kids friends & any one in the neighborhood. At her passing many were still calling her mom. While in City of Hope she had developed several art skills & used those with some formal training to become a very popular photo retouched, finisher, photo restoration & oil painter. at one time working for as many as 20 western studios. She even taught some of the skills. It was a great partnership because dad was a photographer. She loved the outdoors & threw herself excitedly into camping trips to anywhere, fishing trips, long family vacations etc. & gave support to her son on some of his crazier adventures. She no longer played the clarinet, but developed skill with the harmonica which added to our campouts. She loved music & she & dad enjoyed country music, dancing & their ‘special’ song  ‘Have I Told You Lately That I Love You’. She also saw that her children had opportunity to learn music & both learned to play musical instruments. She was a wonderful care giver to so many through the years. Often times the assistance was financial & only sometimes was it repaid. Still they never gave up on helping people. Friends & neighbors were never without companionship & meals with mom around, but it was special with family. She practically lived with her dad & mom as their lives waned. She & dad made a decision to buy them a house to live in for their ‘golden’ years. Mom & dad were quite a team for good. Their example set a major tone in their children’s lives. We can’t imagine not serving & comforting where possible. A number of times mom prayed to be able to take pain or burdens from one of her family & times were I saw it happen. Betty had her own share of life’s challenges. She survived flood, accidents, break-ins to her home (on more than one occasion she chased down the bad guys), & other adventures. To her own physical self the aforementioned Tuberculosis. There were cancers, ectopic pregnancy, afib, congenital heart failure, macular degeneration, serious hearing loss, etc. At the late stage of her life she was still very independent in her home. She was still walking around the block with Allen, enjoying Costco, going anywhere he went. She wouldn’t let him go to his doctor appts. without her. She never needed a crutch because she was his companion & he was her crutch. His arm still reaches for her.  Then several falls, a broken shoulder, hip & femur brought her to finally being bedridden for an extended period. Once again she was recovering & relishing her rehab. Finally, on top of all that, she got a rare form of pneumonia. It was more than her 92 year old body could take & on May 10 she passed away. She loved so deeply her children, grandchildren, &, even before passing, got to see a picture of her great granddaughter. She would have given them everything she had & at times made great gifts to them. She was so pleased with the people they were becoming. Mom, we all love you & will miss you til we meet again. She was one of a kind & now will join her eternal mate in a place reserved for the great & special ones. She desired a memorial service instead of a funeral & her mortal remains will be with dad at the Boulder City Veteran’s Cemetery.