Global Ministries is saddened to learn of the death of Reverend Kathryn Jean Palmer White
Reverend Kathryn Jean Palmer White
February 28, 1926 – January 15, 2015
Reverend Kathryn White was a third generation Disciple of Christ and an ordained minister for over 60 years. Kay graduated from Bethany College (West Virginia), attended Lexington Theological Seminary (Kentucky), Hartford Seminary Foundation (Connecticut), and received her Masters of Divinity degree with honors from Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. She married her husband, Reverend John F. White, in 1948, and they served together as missionaries to the Philippines for 14 years.
During her missionary service, Kathryn White was able to see the completion of the Gastambide Christian Dormitory; she taught at Ellinwood College of Christian Education; witnessed the union of the Tagalog Disciple Churches with the United Church of Christ in the Philippines; watched the Ecumenical College Center grow; and saw the beginning of the All Saints Chapel at the Philippine Military Academy.
After retiring from the mission field, Kathryn served as an Associate Minister in a local church, Assistant to the Director of the Des Moines (Iowa) Area Council of Churches, and served as Staff Minister at a mental health center in Ohio. She was the Interfaith Relations Consultant for North Central Mental Health Center in Columbus, Ohio, a member of the Older Adult Team, and a Pastoral Counselor. Prior to her position as Associate Regional Minister for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Florida, Reverend White served as co-pastor with her husband at First Christian Church in Naples, Florida. During their retirement, Kathryn and her husband, John, served as co-Interim Ministers in 12 congregations throughout North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. Following John’s death in 2006, Kathryn moved to Maryland to live with family.
Kay was a member of the International Christian Women’s Fellowship Executive Committee, was a board member of the Division of Overseas Ministries Board, and of the General Board for the Disciples of Christ. She led numerous workshops throughout the United States and was speaker at the Quadrennial Assembly held at Purdue University in 1986.