Mary White

Mary Madison White, a lifelong resident of Tompkins County, (56 years in Enfield, NY) passed away at Olean General Hospital on Sunday, September 28, 2014 on a weekend trip, at the age of 78.

Mary was born in Ithaca, NY on July 9, 1936, a daughter of the late James and Leone (Woeffel) Madison. She graduated from Trumansburg High school in 1954 and was active in making their recent 60 year reunion an event to remember. After graduation, she worked as a telephone operator for Ma Bell and then took a job at Suburban Propane. She worked part time at first helping start the family apartment business which turned into a full time job in 1970. Mary continued with this until the last few years when she considered herself ‘retired’.

She was a lifetime true animal lover, always having pets in her home and most recently caring for her beloved dog Bubba. Mary took great pride in staying in shape with many years of exercising at the gym making many friends, and most recently she was taking Tai Chi. She enjoyed harvesting and preserving a vast amount of vegetables and fruits from her garden, canning jellies, jams and pickles every year for Christmas baskets for family. She loved taking RV trips across the United States, and enjoyed stopping at any Red Lobster restaurant or casino.

Mary loved to be creative and enjoyed many arts and crafts as well as entertaining in their backyard or at holiday time. Over the years, she especially enjoyed sewing and refinishing furniture for her home, as gifts for her children and for use in apartments. She recently completed a Victorian style dollhouse with tremendous detail, including miniature pictures of the grandchildren hanging on the walls and a lighted interior. This took many hours of her time and was a great source of pride.

She was a two time breast cancer survivor. Daughter Nicole has participated annually for many years with the St. Baldrick’s Foundation by getting her hair shaved off to support cancer research.

In addition to raising three children, she was active in Camp Fire girls with her daughters and also taught snowmobile safety classes to children in the Enfield area during that time period. Mary was incredibly proud of her four grandchildren and their accomplishments. She followed their sports and other activities throughout their elementary, junior and high school years and was now following those in college.

The family would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to Dr. Jonathan Mauser and his staff at the Cayuga Heart Institute for their dedication and diligence in the care they recently gave Mary.

Mary is survived by her husband Philip White Jr. of 58 years; three children, Lorraine (Donald) Frelier, Ionia NY, Nicole White, Ithaca, NY and Philip (Kelly Rurey) White III, Victor NY; four grandchildren, Abigail, Jeffrey, and David Frelier and Sean White, Brother in law and sister in law David and Karen (White) Allen, Mecklenburg, NY and many nieces, nephews, and extended family. In addition to her parents, Mary was preceded in death by siblings, Betty Wilcox Decker, Jean Colburn, Shirley Bower, and Dean Madison as well as several nieces and nephews.

The family will be present to receive friends from 6:00 to 7:30pm on Thursday, October 2, 2014 at the Ness-Sibley Funeral Home, 23 South Street, Trumansburg. A Memorial Service will immediately follow at 7:30pm at the funeral home. Burial in Grove cemetery will be at the convenience of the family at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks those to kindly make a donation in Mary’s memory to the Tompkins County SPCA, 1640 Hanshaw Road, Ithaca, NY 14850.