White, Arthur L. (1907–1991)

Arthur Lacey White was the third son of William Clarence and Ethel May (Lacey) White and grandson of Ellen G. White.¹

Early Life

Arthur White was born at his home in St. Helena, California, on October 5, 1907. He was not quite 8 years old when his grandmother died, so his memories of her were mostly as a kind and loving grandmother. His father, W. C. White, taught his children the practical skills of life, and involved Arthur in the activities of the family farm.

Arthur attended Pacific Union College, earning an Associate of Arts degree in business administration in 1928. Later that year, on June 26, he married Frieda Belle Swingle in a ceremony conducted by his father, Elder W. C. White. They became the parents of three sons, James A., William E., and Arthur H. Soon after the wedding they drove to Madison College, in Tennessee, where Arthur was an assistant accountant. A year later, at age 22, he was called back to California to become secretary to his father and to serve as treasurer/business manager, and in 1933 as an assistant secretary of the Ellen G. White Estate at “Elmshaven.”

Secretary of the Ellen G. White Estate

After the death of W. C. White in 1937, a preplanned move was put in motion to move the Ellen G. White Estate to the General Conference in Washington, D.C. At that time the board of trustees appointed Arthur White to take his father’s place as secretary of the Estate. He was 30 years old. From that time until his retirement in 1978 he served as secretary (director) of the board of trustees.

Arthur White was ordained to the ministry in Takoma Park, Maryland, in 1940. He was asked to teach conducted seminars and workshops around the world, many of them in conjunction with Andrews University. In 1973, in recognition of his contribution to Seventh-day Adventist education, Andrews University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree. During the more than 40 years he served as secretary of the White Estate, many compilations were produced from the writings of Ellen White. White himself wrote more than 150 articles in various journals of the church, as well as authoring several books. He also helped in developing the concept of Ellen G. White-Seventh-day Adventist Research Centers in each division of the church in order to bring the writings of Ellen White to church members around the world. Several of these were opened while he was still secretary of the White Estate.

A Six-Volume Biography of Ellen White

For a number of years, the White Estate board had seen the need for a comprehensive biography of Ellen White, and Arthur White was asked to write it. But a heart disease, bacterial endocarditis, affected his health, and it soon became evident that he couldn’t oversee the office work and write the biography. A new director, Robert Olson, was appointed. White formally retired in 1978 and had open heart surgery in 1979. After recuperating from the surgery, he set himself a taxing schedule of writing one chapter of the biography each week. He began his writing with the later years of Ellen White’s life, as more research had already been done on those years and the writing would go more quickly. In addition, Arthur still had several sisters living who could add anecdotal information that would be lost with their passing. It took six years to complete the six-volume biography of Ellen G. White, with the last volume completed in 1985. At the General Conference session in New Orleans in 1985, White was presented with the church’s Distinguished Achievement Award. The following year he received the Charles E. Weniger Award of Merit from Pacific Union College.

Arthur White was a lifetime member of the White Estate board of trustees, being connected with the Ellen G. White Estate for nearly 58 years. He died in St. Helena, California, January 12, 1991.

Sources

Nix, James R. “Arthur L. White.” ARH, February 28, 1991.

Obituary of Arthur L. White. Pacific Union Recorder, November 4, 1991.

Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia. Second revised edition. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1996, pp. 871-873.

White Estate DF 795.

Notes

1. This article was originally published in the Ellen G. White Encyclopedia (2013). It was updated for the Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists by Tim Poirier, vice-director of Ellen G. White Estate, Inc..↩