Alice Jeanette (Billings) White

Alice J. White, beloved mother, sister, aunt, friend, and teacher, passed away on Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Conroe, Texas, at the age of 84. Alice was born in Houston, Texas, on August 3, 1941, to Raymond Samuel “Josh” Billings and Ruth Virginia (Strait) Billings. She lived and worked in the Conroe area, and attended the First Baptist Church of Conroe, for over 40 years.

Alice grew up in Texas, attending public schools in Houston, Conroe, and Port Lavaca, where she graduated from Calhoun High School in 1959. After attending nursing school, she chose to focus on teaching, and graduated from the University of Houston with a BS in Education in 1966. Immediately after graduating, she flew to Hawai‘i where she lived and taught for two years, establishing lifelong friendships in her short time there. Shortly after her return to Port Lavaca, she met her first husband, James Wesley (Jim) Phillips, when they were in a local play together. They had two sons, Wyatt Dean Phillips in 1973 and Zachary Brant Phillips in 1976. They resided in Austin, where both Wyatt and Zack were born, and moved to Uvalde, Texas in 1982. Alice and Jim Phillips divorced in 1984 and Alice, with her sons, moved to Conroe, where she had taken a job teaching at Creighton Intermediate School in Conroe ISD. Alice loved teaching and helping students who needed extra help and attention. She thrived in getting students to succeed where they previously had not, helping them overcome any and all learning challenges.

After Wyatt graduated from Conroe High School, Alice began taking night and summer classes through Sam Houston State University, graduating with a Master of Education in 1994. She chose this timeframe intentionally so that she could be fully available for Zack’s senior year of high school. From this point on, Alice left the traditional classroom and became one of the inaugural Reading Intervention Specialists in Conroe ISD. She was an expert in Dyslexia and other learning disabilities, and would travel from school to school to provide extra help to students who needed it. Whether teaching or caregiving, Alice’s gifts of service to others formed the crux of her being, and we are all fortunate to have been impacted by her love and ferocity of spirit.

From the time she arrived in Conroe, Alice was an active member of the congregation at First Baptist Church. For many of those years she sang in the church choir, and that is where she met Dr. James Wheeler (Jim) White. They chose to spend the rest of their lives together, and married in 2005. They both loved Jesus, music, and playing dominoes (probably in that order). Alice loved staying connected to her extended family, particularly her sons and their families, and her sister, Edith. She enjoyed researching her family genealogy (with Edith), liked to read, traveled when and where she could, and took pictures of (almost) all of it. She and Jim White lived in Lake Bonanza near Montgomery while she continued to teach, and care for her mother, Ruth, in the final years of her life. After 34 years with Conroe ISD, Alice retired in 2018. Following that she focused on her life with Jim, spending time with family and friends, growing her flower garden (irises and lilies were her favorites), and just being the amazing, loving, sassy, caring woman that she was.

Alice is survived by her son Wyatt, his wife (her first “daughter-in-heart”) Robin (Bricker) Phillips, two granddaughters, Zola Rose Phillips and Josephine Jayne Phillips, and by her son Zack Phillips and his wife (her other “daughter-in-heart”) Sandra Bates. She is survived too by her sister, Edith (Billings) Phillips and her husband Deb Phillips, and numerous cherished nieces, nephews, and cousins as well as by the children she “inherited” when she married Jim White: A. Whitney White Gregory and her husband Thomas, and Todd Sterling White and his wife Dina; grandchildren, Brittney Gregory Dafcik and husband Michael, Todd Edward Gregory and wife Laura, John Michael White, Christian Hunter Sterling White and wife Chloe Leonard, and Kenneth Charles Franklin; great-granddaughters, Kora Ryn Dafcik and Charlee Faith White. She is also survived by her first husband, James Phillips.

Alice was predeceased by both of her parents; her brothers Raymond Strait (“Duck”) Billings and Dinnie Carl Billings; and Jim White, her beloved husband for over 20 years, who passed away just this past September.

The memorial service celebrating Alice’s life will be held in the main sanctuary at First Baptist Conroe, 600 N. Main St., at 2:00 PM on Saturday, June 20. Visitation will be in the entrance atrium of the church at 1:30; there will also be a reception following the service until 4:00 in Herrington Hall at the church. In celebration of Alice, please feel free to wear colorful clothing or floral prints. There will be a livestream of the service at the link: fbcconroe.org/livestream.

Alice’s ashes will be divided and placed alongside her late husband Jim White’s at the Houston National Cemetery; at her parents’ graves in Port Lavaca, Texas; and dispersed at a private location in Hawai‘i.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you consider making a donation to:

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (Alice loved wildflowers): https://www.wildflower.org/donate

OR

Huntsville State Park (where she and Jim White went for every anniversary): https://tpwd.texas.gov/business/donations/