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- Hancock County Journal - 8/18/2010
Died Aug. 12, 2010
Mary Ellen White Havens, 92, widow of Montrose J. Havens and beloved mother, sister, aunt and grandmother, died on Thursday, Aug. 12, 2010, at her home in Warsaw, where she had resided since her husband's retirement from a career that had taken the family to many states and as far as India.
The first of eight children born in Utica, New York, to Thomas and Naomi Johnson White, Mary Ellen was preceded in death by her husband, Monte; brothers Francis White, who died in World War II, and Thomas White; sisters Therese Wagner and Joanne Buttenschon; and son Tom of Warsaw. Surviving her are sisters, Kathleen Wiseham of Utica and Ruth Vaeth of Clinton, New York; and brother George White and wife Peg of Brunswick, Ga.; sisters-in-law Laminta Crawford of El Paso, Texas, and Maria Sepich of Columbus, Ohio; her daughter and dedicated caregiver Linda Havens of Warsaw; sons James and wife Karen of Woodville, Ohio, and Monte and wife Linda of Hamilton; daughter-in-law Mary Rings Havens of Warsaw; many nieces and nephews; grandchildren Laura, Amy, Beau, Jesse, Jason, Joshua, Jonathan, Sarah and Betsey; and six great-grandchildren.
After graduating with highest honors from Whitesboro High School in 1935, Mary Ellen attended Syracuse University. She married Monte Havens of Warsaw on Nov. 21, 1936, in Utica. Monte and Mary Ellen began their married life in California and four children were born to them in four different states, James Montrose in New York; Linda L. in Pennsylvania; Monte Jr. in Arkansas; and Thomas Henry in Kentucky. Wherever her husband pursued the construction of levees, canals, dams, coal mines, seaways, bridges and causeways, Mary Ellen was up to the challenge of moving while maintaining a stable family routine, making new friends, and extending a generous hospitality. The adventuresome couple made their three-year stint in India, where Monte was recruited to work on the huge Bhakra Dam project, a memorable and unifying family experience.
Mary Ellen's talents were many and her interests broad. The many houses she occupied benefited from her skillful decorating and expert wallpapering. For 10 years she operated Strings & Things, a popular needlework, macram and yarn shop, from her home in Warsaw, and at Wright's Dress Shop in Keokuk, Iowa, deftly guided her customers in making the best choices. Her interest in history led to Mary Ellen's helping found the Warsaw Historic District Commission and collaborating on its publication Touring Historic Warsaw, for which she studied to identify all the architectural styles represented by each historic building. She then helped found the Warsaw Historical Society and served as its president. She had a keen eye for antiques, which she enjoyed collecting and selling with her daughter Linda.
But Mary Ellen's chief love was always family and this led to one of her most remarkable achievements: a virtually complete history of her branch of the White family and her husband's branch of the Havens family. Begun in 1939 from an aunt's expressed desire to join the Daughters of the American Revolution, Mary Ellen's scholarly and painstaking research, without computers, of cemeteries, newspapers, photographs, and archives of all sorts, covered 48 years and resulted in two notebooks tracing both Whites and Havenses back to their earliest presence in this country, with documentation and very little undiscovered. Mary Ellen herself was admitted to the D.A.R. in 1950, of which she was very proud. But not as proud as her family is to have had her as beloved mother,
sister, mother-in-law, aunt, grandmother. Rest in Peace, Mary Ellen.
A Mass of Christian Burial was held on Wednesday, Aug. 18, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Warsaw. Father Tony Trosley served as Celebrant. Burial followed in Oakland Cemetery in Warsaw.
Memorials have been established for Warsaw Historical Society.
Lamporte - St. Clair Funeral Home of Warsaw was in charge of arrangements.
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Abt 1918 - 2010 (~ 92 years)