Jeanette G. White

Jeanette Gilchrist White “Teddy” passed this mortal world peacefully with the dignity and respect that was due her on Saturday, February 22, 2025.

She was born in Peoria, Illinois into the loving family of Theodore and Katharine (Wurst) Gilchrist, her parents, on May 6, 1931. Her parents and older sisters, Julia and Angela, all preceded her in death. As the baby of the family, she became her father’s favorite and he soon took his youngest to work with him. During the Depression years, he visited the farming communities of central Illinois, most specifically Crescent City.

Since her father’s was widely known as “Teddy”, she became known as young Teddy to her friends and family. Her father began to give her gifts of teddy bears and as she matured, even in her marriage, she was gifted small and large, soft, fluffy teddy bears for any occasion. She eventually cared for several hundred teddy bears. Nearer the end even her favorite caregivers called her, “Teddy Bear.”

After graduating from Peoria Central High School, she attended the University of Illinois in Champaign studying Economics and Nutrition. Immediately upon graduation, she accepted a job with Kraft, Inc. in Chicago.

In addition to her studies during college, she met and dated a young man from Lisle, Illinois, Charles White. After a long courtship, they married in 1955. Almost immediately after their marriage, the young couple took the train to New York City and sailed across the Atlantic where Charles reported for active duty in the Army. The new Mrs. White was given a leave of absence from her position at Kraft Foods to accompany her husband and work remotely (perhaps one of the first remote workers).

While stationed in Germany, the couple began a lifelong love affair of travel. They visited Munich, Paris, Vienna, Salzburg, Switzerland, Florence, Venice, and Rome where they shared their acquired love of theater and opera, art and architecture, as well as concert music, snow skiing and ice skating.

When Charles was not allowed a leave, one of Jeanette’s sisters would often accompany her in her little Karmann Ghia. A better tour of duty hardly could have been imagined.

During her long career at Kraft Foods, Jeanette held several supervisory and management positions. As a national marketing manager in the 1950’s, when television commercials were shown live, she was often in charge of the commercials produced in New York City. Her favorite responsibility was hosting the celebrity talent of which she had many stories. By far, her favorite personality was Perry Como.

Later in her career, she supervised a group that created and tested many of the recipes for which Kraft became known. Even later, she wrote and edited several cookbooks and after she retired from Kraft, began a consulting business of her own.

Perhaps her proudest legacy, though, is the collection of Native American paintings and sculptures that she and her husband managed to assemble over the latter decades of their life. Clearly her sensibilities were the driving force of what has become a significant group of art work created by Native Americans. What began as ski trips to Taos, New Mexico eventually included visits to art galleries in the Taos and Sante Fe area which later turned into visits to artist’s studios.

The Whites forged many friendships with Native artists as they purchased art work that, in turn, encouraged and supported the artists to keep working. Mr. and Mrs. White were very aware that their support of Native artists contributed to a broader appreciation of Native communities as everyday life in many seem so dedicated to the arts.

Their collection, mostly of work from 1960 to the present, has been the focus of several exhibitions most notably in Mrs. White’s hometown of Peoria, IL and at the Sangre de Cristo Art Center in Pueblo, Colorado at the very northern edge of the American southwest. Their collection has been donated to the Sangre de Cristo Art Center where it will remain as a cultural asset available for scholarly research, public exhibitions, and educational outreach programs.

Additionally, their collection of dozens of exhibition quality brass rubbings that they created during their various stays in England has also been donated to the Sangre de Cristo Art Center.

Arrangements have been made with Davenport Funeral Home in Barrington and a private memorial and celebratory service will be held at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association in Jeanette Gilchrist White’s name would be most appropriate and appreciated.