Carolyn Jean Downum White

Carolyn Jean White was born to Dr. Garland and Evelyn Downum on April 11, 1944 in Macon, Georgia. She grew up in Flagstaff, Arizona, where she was surrounded by the campus life of the Arizona State Teachers College where her parents taught. Summers were spent camping at the national forest fire towers where her father worked lookout duty and hiking into the Grand Canyon. She began to develop her musical talent with the violin, including an LP record playing with the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra. While pursuing a degree at Northern Arizona University, she married Larry Dale White on June 6, 1964 in the Federated Community Church of Flagstaff. Carolyn worked as a teacher as her husband completed his graduate studies at the University of Arizona in Tucson. She said that her most challenging class to teach was a typing class full of football players. Following her husband’s Ph.D., they had a two year adventure of living overseas in Embu, Kenya. This time was busy with the birth of their first son, safari trips through the wildlife of Africa, and living in different cultures. In 1970 they resettled in Gainesville, Florida, where their second son was born. As the boys grew, Carolyn worked for a time as secretary to a forensic pathology doctor and they built a home outside of town to raise livestock and a vegetable garden.

Following a move to Uvalde, Texas in 1978, Carolyn began to learn and excel at traditional Texas-style fiddle music. Playing at contests over a wide area, she advanced to be come one of the top 10 ranked players in the state. With the encouragement of her husband, she began giving lessons and then wrote the lesson book “Fiddle by Number” which she marketed nationwide through magazine ads. Besides playing at fiddle contests, Carolyn played for dances, parties, recording sessions, the Texas International Folklife Festival, and shows at Alamo Village near Brackettville. Meanwhile, she also pursued a home study course in stenography through the Stenotype Institute of Jacksonville, Florida. After several years of determined work, she would become the first to successfully graduate from the program through home study. It was around this time that they would move to College Station, and Carolyn began working as a court reporter. She would prove to be a visionary in promoting the use of modernized equipment with real-time transcription in the court room.

Following years of chronic pain and illness, Carolyn passed away suddenly at home on May 4, 2025. She will be remembered for her music, her perfectionism, and her never-ending creativeness. Whether embroidering logos for her son’s business, adding unusual ingredients to recipes, or making jewelry with her granddaughters, there always seemed to be a new idea to try out. Her sense of humor will be missed and her resilience in spite of circumstances will not be forgotten.

Carolyn is survived by her husband Dr. Larry White; sons Loren (Nancy) White of Jackson, MS and Jay White of College Station, TX; her sister Janice (Skip) Barnett of Ponder, TX; grandsons Jesse (Kaylee) White of Ridgeland, MS and John (Emma) White of Pearl, MS; granddaughters Rebecca and Sarah White of Jackson, MS; and many nieces and nephews. She is predeceased by her brother Phil Downum, granddaughter Cynthia White, and grandson Jadon White.

Burial was at Wellborn Cemetery on May 12. A celebration of her life will be held at the Wellborn Community Center on July 12 at 3 PM.