Columbia County OR Archives Biographies.....White, Thompson S. May 11, 1868 - 
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Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com October 22, 2009, 5:15 pm

Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 55-56
Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     One of the leading undertakers of Columbia county, Oregon, is Thompson S. 
White, of St. Helens, where he owns an establishment that would do credit to a 
city several times the size of that place. He is an expert funeral director 
and commands his full share of the business in that section of the valley. Mr. 
White was born in Linn county, Iowa, May 11, 1868, and is a son of James A. 
and Nancy Ellen (Ellis) White, both of whom are deceased. His father was born 
in Morgan county, Ohio, in 1840, and in 1860 moved to Iowa. At the outbreak of 
the Civil war he enlisted in the Thirty-first Regiment Iowa Volunteer 
Infantry, with which he served until the close of the war, participating in 
many of the most important engagements of that conflict. At the close of the 
war he returned to Iowa and bought a farm, to the operation of which he 
devoted his attention until 1872, when he went to Jewell county, Kansas, of 
which locality he was a pioneer. He took up a homestead of one hundred and 
sixty acres, on which he built a sod house, after which he broke the prairie 
sod and cultivated the land. He farmed there during the remainder of his life, 
and passed through many trying experiences, particularly from droughts, 
grasshoppers and predatory Indians. His death occurred on his farm in 1922, 
and his wife died two weeks later, both being eighty-two years of age. To them 
were born twelve children: Basil H., deceased; Mrs. Lyda King, who lives in 
Oklahoma; Wilton E. and William B., twins, the former living in Illinois and 
the latter in Kansas; Thompson S., of this review; Mrs. Lucy Davis, of 
Mankato, Kansas; Mrs. Mary Kent, who lives in Kansas; Mrs. Clara Hewitt, also 
of Kansas; Charles Dickens, of Medford, Oregon; Celia, deceased, and two who 
died in infancy.

     Thompson S. White attended the public schools of Kansas and graduated 
from the high school at Jewell City. He taught school three terms in Jewell 
county, after which he went to Aspen, Colorado, where he was employed in the 
silver mines for four years. He then went to Quincy, Illinois, and took a 
commercial course in the Gem City Business College, after which he accepted a 
position as traveling salesman for John M. Lewis, dealer in undertakers' 
supplies, of Quincy. He followed that line of work from 1896 to 1906, after 
which he became traveling representative of the North St. Paul Casket Company, 
of St. Paul, Minnesota, with which he remained for four years. He took a 
course in embalming at Quincy, Illinois, and at Carl M. Barnes' Embalming 
School, in Chicago, after which he passed an examination at St. Paul and was 
duly licensed. In 1910 Mr. White came to St. Helens, Oregon, and opened an 
undertaking parlor, in which he met with such a measure of success that he has 
continued to the present time. In 1927 Mr. White bought three lots, on which 
he built a modern mortuary, sixty-one by sixty feet, two and a half stories 
and full basement. The building is constructed of concrete, finished in 
stucco, and is in every respect well adapted to the purpose for which it is 
used. It is modern in its furnishings and equipment and is so arranged as to 
facilitate handling funerals. Mr. White is well qualified for his exacting 
duties, being not only an expert embalmer, but painstaking and tireless in his 
efforts to give the highest type of service to those who employ him. He has 
served as coroner of Columbia county for the past ten years.

     Mr. White was married in 1901 to Miss Ione Cooper, to which union was 
born a daughter, Helen, who graduated from the high school at St. Helens, and 
from the University of Washington, at Seattle with the degree of Bachelor of 
Arts, in 1926, and is now engaged in commercial art work in Seattle. In 1919 
Mr. White married Mrs. Josephine Knight, who is a native of Alsace-Lorraine, 
France, and is a trained nurse. Mr. White is a member of Avon Lodge, No. 62, 
K. P. and St. Helen's Lodge, No. 32, A. F. & A. M., at St. Helens; St. Helens 
Chapter, No. 53, R. A. M., and Quincy Commandery, K. T., of Quincy, Illinois. 
He is past master of Blue Lodge at St. Helens and belongs to Avon Lodge, No. 
62, K. P.; St. Helens Lodge, No. 117, I. O. O. F.; and he and his wife are 
members of the Order of the Eastern Star, and both Mr. and Mrs. White belong 
to the Daughters of Rebekah and the Pythian sisters. Mr. White has shown a 
commendable interest in everything pertaining to the welfare and prosperity of 
his community, being a member of the Chamber of Commerce and having rendered 
effective service on the city council. He is a man of progressive and 
enterprising methods, is prompt and efficient in the performance of his 
professional duties, and in every respect has proven worthy not only of the 
material success which has come to him, but also of the genuine esteem in 
which he is held by his fellowmen.

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