Oleta Jensen White

OLETA J. WHITEPreston, Idaho: Caroline Oleta Jensen White, 98, completed her earthly mission on October 1, 2008 at the Franklin County Transitional Care Center. Oleta was born on August 15, 1910 in Smoot, Wyoming to Joseph Jolley Jensen and Emma Isabella McGavin Jensen. Her early years were spent in Star Valley, Wyoming and in the Bear Lake Valley of Idaho and Utah. She attended schools in Montpelier, Idaho and graduated from Montpelier High School. Her mother died when Oleta was 16 and as the oldest daughter in the family, she was left to care for her younger siblings while their father worked away from home much of the time. She was employed at that time by the Mutual Creamery Company in Montpelier. She married S. Woodrow White in the Logan LDS Temple on June 17, 1938 and moved with him to his family's ranch in McKinnon, Wyoming where they made their home for ten years. In 1948 they moved to Vernal, Utah where they raised their family and made their home for the next fifty years. Always active in the LDS Church, Oleta served in a variety of positions in Primary, Young Women, and Relief Society, including years of service on the stake Primary and Relief Society Boards. She was active in PTA and in Cub Scouting. She was a supportive companion to her husband as he served as a bishop and stake patriarch. As a couple, they served an LDS mission to West Virginia. She was involved for many years in the Daughters of Utah Pioneers and in the Vernal Cultural Arts Club. She was the mother of three children, Sharleen Bell White Gries, Bruce W. White, and Alan J. White. After the death of her husband in 1977 she lived alone in Vernal until failing eyesight made in necessary for her to have some assistance. She lived in an assisted living facility in Provo, Utah from 1998 until 2001, when she moved to Preston to live with Alan and Nelada White. She will be remembered for her dedicated friendship, her busy hands, desire to serve and her contagious laughterShe was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, her daughter Sharleen Gries, son in law Edward R. Gries, son Bruce White, brothers Robert Cecil Jensen and Sidney Wendell Jensen, and sister Genevieve Lyons Carlson. She is survived by sister Hattie Birch of Ogden, Utah, brother Nolan Mac Jensen of Cedar Fort, Utah, by her son, Alan (Nelada) White of Preston, Idaho, daughter in law Sharon Smith White of Spanish Fork, Utah, and by 15 grandchildren and 24 great grandchildren. Funeral services will be conducted on Friday, October 3 at 1:00 p.m. in the Preston North Stake Center at 310 North State Street in Preston, Idaho, under the direction of President Stanley Fellows of the Legacy First Branch. Friends may call at the stake center from 11:30 a.m.until 12:30 p.m.Additional services will be conducted on Saturday, October 4 at 1:00 p.m. in the Glines 2nd Ward Chapel at 1500 West Highway 40 in Vernal, Utah, under the direction of Bishop Keith Foley of the Glines 2nd Ward. Friends may call at the church from 11:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. Interment will be in the Maeser-Fairview Cemetery under the direction of the Webb Funeral Home of Preston, Idaho. The family wishes to thank the staff of Franklin County Home Health and the Franklin County Transitional Care Center for their years of loving service to Oleta. Condolences and memories may be sent to the family at www.webbmortuary.com