Simeon Woodrow White & Caroline Oleta Jensen
(Parents of Alan J White)
(Parents of Alan J White)
In
1934, Woodrow worked in the CC Camp in Jackson, Wyoming, reporting to a man
named Cecil Jensen. Cecil’s sister, Oleta, came to visit, and Woodrow got
acquainted with her. They wrote to each other for some time. Five years later,
they were finally married on June 17 1938 in the Logan Temple. Later, Woodrow
worked for Meadow Gold Dairies for seventeen years, the last six and a half as
a delivery man in Vernal, Utah.
He served in many church callings, including
Bishop. He said that he thought it was the greatest calling that he’d ever had
in the church. In January 1971, Woodrow
was called as the Patriarch in the Vernal, Utah Ashley Stake. He said, “This
has been a real humbling experience in my life. One that takes a lot of
meditation, a lot of thought, and one that is humbling every day of a person’s
life in order to be in turn sufficiently to be able to give Patriarchal
Blessings unto those who come to receive those sacred blessings.”
Oleta
grew up in Star Valley, Wyoming. When she was only 16, her mother became ill
and died;. Her death left a tremendous responsibility to Oleta. Her older
brother, Cecil was away from home working and following the rodeo circuit most
of the time. The youngest brother, Nolan, was in the care of relatives, and her
father was away from home shearing sheep and doing other work most of the time.
That left Oleta to head a household that included herself, Wendell, Genevieve,
and Hattie, who was just seven when her mother died.
In the early 1930s, Oleta visited
her brother Cecil, who was a supervisor in the Civilian Conservation Corp
working in Grand Teton National Park. It was there that she met Woodrow White,
and in the shadow of the majestic Tetons and on the banks of peaceful Jenny
Lake, they began their courtship. The romance was slow to blossom into
marriage, however, as Oleta felt the responsibility of her brothers and sisters
and urged Woodrow to delay any permanent plans until after Hattie had completed
high school.