Margaret Ann Rusk White, 89, died Friday, January 18, 2008, at Presbyterian Hospital Matthews in Matthews, N.C. She was born on March 31, 1918, in Bloomington, Indiana. When she was seven years old, she moved with her parents to New York, N.Y. Mrs. White was the only child of Ralph Leslie Rusk and Clara Ella Gibbs Rusk. Ralph Leslie Rusk was a professor emeritus of American literature at Columbia University, New York, N.Y. In 1950, he was the first winner of the National Book Award for Nonfiction for "The Life of Ralph Waldo Emerson," published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1949. In 1980, Mrs. White wrote a scholarly article, "Peter Ivanovitch's Escape: a Possible Source Overlooked," which was published in Conradiana, VII (1980), 1: 72-80. Mrs. White was graduated from the Horace Mann High School for Girls, New York, N.Y., with honors in German, Latin, and English in 1936. She was graduated from Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Penn., with a B.A. with honors in 1940 (English major). She received an M.A. in comparative literature (French, German and English) from Columbia University in 1943. She completed the courses for a Ph.D. at Columbia University, but did not complete the dissertation. She attended the French School at Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vt., during the summers from 1974 - 1976, earning an M.A. in French in 1976. Mrs. White was married to Walter Thomas White on October 2, 1943, in a chapel at the Riverside Church inNew York, N.Y. After she married, she lived in Hempstead, New HydePark, and Garden City, all on LongIsland, N.Y., as well as Walpole, N.H.;Lubbock, Texas; and Columbus, N.C. In 2005, she moved to Plantation Estates in Matthews. She was active in the Experimentin International Living as an experimenter, host, community chairman,and delegate to the Annual International Meeting.She enjoyed travel in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Austria, the British Isles, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Latin America, Yugoslavia, the Caribbean, and the United States. She also enjoyed camping, hiking, swimming, canoeing, and skiing. She taught part-time at Mark Hopkins College, Franklin Pierce College, Bradford College, and Keene State College, all in New England, as well as Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, during the period from 1969 - 1988. Subjects included elementary French, German, and Spanish; intermediate French and German; advanced French; 17th Century French drama; introduction to German literature; and English composition and poetry. After retiring from teaching, she was a part-time journalist for The Walpole Gazette, and The Keene Sentinel during the period from 1988 - 1992 and for the TryonDaily Bulletin from 1992 - 1996. She wrote about local authors, artists, scientists, and others. Mrs. White is survived by her five children: Marian Rusk White Wendel of Arlington, Texas; Ellen Hallmark White Klage of Fort Wayne, Ind.; Beverly Haywood White Hurd of New York, N.Y.; Sylvia Bennett White Lambert of Charlotte; and Thomas Walker White of Ellicott City, Md. She is also survived by her four grandchildren: Benjamin Thomas Klage, Daniel Paul Klage, Charles Raymond Hurd, and Roy William Varney. She was predeceased by her husband of 57 years, Walter Thomas White, in 2000, as well as by her mother, Clara Ella Gibbs Rusk, and her father, Ralph Leslie Rusk. Mrs. White was cremated on Saturday, January 26, 2008, at the McFarland Funeral Chapel, Inc., in Tryon. The memorial service will be held at the Matthews United Methodist Church in Matthews on February 16, 2008. The urn with her cremated remains will be placed with her husband's urn in a niche in The Columbarium of the Riverside Church, New York, N.Y. Donations may be made to the Columbus United Methodist Church, Columbus, where she attended from 1992 - 2005.
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