Max White Jr., 78, of Williamsburg, passed away from COPD Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, at his home surrounded by loved ones.
Max was raised in Portsmouth. He graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1958 and enlisted in the U.S. Air Force the same year. After basic training, he was stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City, South Dakota, where in 1960, he met and married his wife Irene.
In 1965 they moved to Hampton, and he began working at Newport News Shipbuilding until his retirement in 1999. For most of that time, he was a foreman in the X19 repair shop. Hampton was their home from 1965 to 2000, then Greenlands in Yorktown was home until 2017, with a final move to Colonial Heritage in Williamsburg.
During the 58 years of marriage, Max and Irene took two cruises to Alaska and one to the Bahamas. Max Especially loved going to the Black Hills of South Dakota and attending Irene’s high school reunions in Rapid City. Trips to Yellowstone amd Devil’s Tower in Wyoming and Yosemite in California and the beaches of North Carolina were memorable.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Max Sr. and Katherine Aydlett White; brother, Richard Lee White; and sister, Kathy White Qualls.
Survivors include his wife, Irene; daughter, Michele, and her husband, Jim Zatorski, who were his caregivers for the last two years; loving son, Michael of Yorktown; granddaughter, Jessie Carmine, and her husband, Alan, of Yorktown; grandson, Justin M. Schanz of Poquoson; six great-grandchildren, Alexis, Lauren, Scott, Justin Michael, Elise and Mina; and one great-great-grandson, Landon. Max enjoyed his entire family, making special memories with each grandchild, great-grandchild & great-great-grandchild, two-year-old, Landon. He was their “Poppie,” and they knew he loved them very much.
There will be no funeral service, instead, there will be a time to share memories, photos and each other’s company for the immediate family to assure each of them that he will never be forgotten.
If you would like to honor Max’s memory, go for a long walk, enjoy the birds and all of nature, or find someone to talk with about the “old days” at the Shipyard, or just about anything. Max loved to talk!
Spend time with a friend, relative or stranger if you are able.
Share online condolences with the family at Bucktrout of Williamsburg Funeral Service.
