Ralph Hanley White

White, Ralph January 24, 1923 – November 3, 2005 Ralph Hanley White, 82, passed away Thursday, November 3, 2005 at a local hospital. Memorial services will be at 3:00 PM Sunday, November 6 at Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship with Rev. Nathan Stone and Rev. Dorisanne Cooper officiating. Ralph was born January 24, 1923 to Homer and Atha White on the Wilson Tract northeast of Harlingen, Texas. He attended schools and graduated from Wilson High School in 1939 then went to Texas A&I prior to joining the Navy in February 1943. He served aboard the destroyer escort USS Pope in the Atlantic as a radar man in anti-submarine warfare and was a member of Task Group 22.3 that captured the German submarine U-505 in June 1944. Following World War II, he attended Texas A&M, graduating in 1947 and actively supported the Texas A&M Former Students Association. He then went to graduate school at Cornell. He was recalled to the Navy for duty at Sasebo, Japan during the Korean War. He was employed with the Corps of Engineers at Bergstrom AFB, Austin and at Goodfellow AFB, San Angelo. In 1954, he began a 25 year stint with Trinity Engineering Testing Corp., first in Austin, then in Waco from 1958 to 1979 when he was appointed McLennan County Engineer until his retirement in 1992. He met and married Edna SoRelle in June 1987. His favorite retirement volunteer work included the Woodland Springs Nursing Home Board, Providence Hospital and the Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship where he helped establish the memorial garden and was a longtime active member. He was preceded in death by his parents and his first wife, Janice Jones. Survivors include his wife, Edna; brothers, Robert White and wife, Ida of Corpus Christi and David White of Harlingen; sister, Doris Mains and husband Roger of Combes; stepdaughter Barbara SoRelle Bacot, “adopted” granddaughter, Carole Cervenka Moore of Abbott and many loved cousins, nieces and nephews. Memorials may be made to the Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship Memorial Garden Fund, 4209 N. 27th, Waco, 76708, the Waco A&M Club Scholarship Fund or to the Providence Hospital Auxiliary. The family invites you to leave a message or memory in our “Memorial Guestbook” at www.wilkirsonhatchbailey.com. Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey