Lola Jean White passed peacefully, Sun, Feb 2, 2020 surrounded by her loving family.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Benjamin P White; parents, Fred and Nellie Owen; siblings, Gale, Ruth, Elaine (Gerben Veldt), Glenn, Fred N, Shirley, Wallace, Eleanor Owen, and Marion (Peter) Kallewaard; and great grandson, Nikolai J Miller.
She is survived by her children, Jim and Jan White and their children, Kristina (Joe) Miller and Cindy (Trent) Hayward; and grandchildren, Darby (Andy), Megan, Macy, Daley, and Riley; Janice and Thomas Tannehill, and their children, Tavis (Nancy) Tannehill and Jala Sue Tannehill; and grandchildren, Harrison, Navaeh, Abraham, and Francesca; Jay and Jody White, and their children, Nicholas White, Kimberly (Michal) Hensley, Kari (Jim) King; and grandchildren, Hudson, Lily, Jaeliegh, Lincoln, Jaylinn, Lola and Levi; Joy White and Bob Lazar, and son Christopher (Wiebke) Hopwood; and grandchildren, Sullivan and Henry.
Lola was a unique woman who loved her family, loved to laugh, and always had a smile on her face. She was never one to bring others down, always ready with a kind word or offer of help. With her great sense of humor, quick wit, contagious laugh and unbridled zest for life, Lola was the life of the party.
Her children nicknamed her "Byrd" because she was always flying around taking care of them. Taller than most at 5'9", she was nicknamed "Giraffe" while in high school and thus began her lifelong collection of giraffes in many forms. And, much to the delight of her grand and great grandchildren she always allowed them to play with her giraffes.
On a bowling league when she lived in Kalamazoo, Lola maintained a high 180 game average. Volleyball was another sport. Lola was interested in and she was a devoted Detroit Tiger fan. Europe, Great Britain, Bahamas, Panama, Puerto Rico, Canada, Hawaii, Alaska and most of the continental United States by ship, sailboat, car, and trailer, bus or plane, she loved to travel. The lure of new experiences, people, places, and food - especially large quantities of shrimp - kept her on the move. Lola and Ben wintered in South Padre Island, TX and FL, before settling on their long term winter destination of Lake Havasu, AZ, where they had numerous friends and became valuable members of the community.
She was a member of Blaine Christian Church while living in Arcadia, until she moved to Frankfort where she joined Trinity Lutheran Church. At Trinity she could be found in the back paw with her friends on Sun and Wed playing her favorite card game of golf.
In celebration of Lola's life there will be a visitation from 4 to 8 pm Fri, Feb 7 at Jowett Family Funeral Home in Benzonia. A celebration of life service will be held at 2 pm Sat, Feb 8 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Frankfort, with a viewing at 1 pm.
Lola's family wishes to thank the Frankfort Pines Staff and Intellicare Hospice for their loving care of their mother.
