Mourning Dove
As dawn is breaking
She unfolds her wings and flies
Rising to the Light
-SGW
Lynton Dove White, 75, of Warren, VT, died peacefully at home on October 4, 2011.
She was born to the late David Channing Moore and Harriet Hamilton Moore on November 17, 1935, in Bronxville, New York.
Dove attended the Masters School at Dobbs Ferry and Vassar College. In 1955, she married William Littell White III (Tell), presently of Portsmouth, NH. The couple had three sons: David Stockton White of Middlebury, VT, Netaka Jeffrey White of Salisbury, VT, and Christopher Channing White of Vergennes, VT.
An avid writer, poet, editor and naturalist, Dove may be best remembered for her love of Hawaiian culture. As a resident of Maui from 1983 to 2004, and a Deacon of Hana’s Wananalua Church, she expressed a lifelong interest in cultural anthropology through her research and writing of the Canoe Plants of Ancient Hawaii (www.canoeplants.com) An accomplished herbalist dedicated to holistic health and self care, Dove is remembered for her newsletter, Island Tides, and for her syndicated Hawaiian newspaper column, “Natural Benefits.” Earlier in her life Ms. White also resided in Chappaqua, NY, Aspen, CO, Ashland, OR, Australia and Western Samoa.
In addition to her love of cultural exploration and travel, highlights of Dove’s life include the founding of an intentional community in the Siskiyou Mountains of southern Oregon in 1972 and her initiation into Sufism, Tibetan Buddhism and the Lakota Sioux tradition. Her guiding star and deepest truth, however, lay in her love of family, friends and neighbors. Dove will be remembered for her kind spirit and caring touch. Attuned to life’s passages, she carried deep reverence for the natural cycles of birth, aging and death while serving as a guide and mentor to many.
Dove returned to central Vermont in the spring of 2004 to spend more time near her family and remained a resident of the Mad River Valley until her passing. She was a member of the Poetry Society of Vermont and the League of Vermont Writers.
In addition to her sons, Dove is survived by her sister and brother–in-law, Ashley and Hoyt Ammidon Jr. of Manchester, VT, and New York City and her brother and sister-in-law, Channing and Cecilia Moore of Nantucket Island and Vero Beach, Florida. She is also survived by her daughters-in-law, Jean Shappee, Claire Artis-White and Karen Mansfield White, as well as by her grandchildren: Osha Aurora Maloney, Freeman Lee White and his wife Joanna Opot, Devon Artis-White, Anna Rose White, Sarah Grace White and Hailey Marie White and by her great-grandson Isaiah Maloney.
Memorial donations in Dove’s memory may be made to Central Vermont Home Health & Hospice, 600 Granger Road, Barre, VT, 05641 or to the Vermont Foodbank, 33 Parker Road, Barre, VT, 05641.
Dove’s ashes will be interred privately in Vermont and Hawaii.
