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WHITE Constance Neville Rickard
White died January 28, 2011, at the age of 93. Daughter of Brent N. and Edith
C. Rickard, she came to El Paso as a young girl when her father was named
manager of the ASARCO smelter. Connie lived at the smelter for several years
before moving to Sunset Heights. She attended Dudley School and graduated from
Radford School for girls and Scripps College, Claremont, CA. Connie and Wyndham
Kemp White were married in 1939. They returned to El Paso after Wyndham's Army
service in Ecuador and the European Theater, World War II. They resided on
Montana St. and then in the Upper Valley where they raised their family as well
as generations of dogs, cats and horses while Wyndham practiced law. Connie
enthusiastically supported her childrens' schools as well as training and
showing horses, little league, track, tennis and swimming. She especially
encouraged their musical education, including learning piano pieces herself so
that she could accompany her sons' French horn solos. She, her children and
eventually her grandchildren frequently attended symphony concerts together.
All this while maintaining a mean game of tennis at El Paso Tennis Club and
swimming miles at a time whenever she could find water. Connie is survived by
four children: Edita (Jerry) Simmons, El Paso, TX; Anne (Jim) Airy, Beaux Arts,
WA; Hugh, Petaluma, CA; Wyndham, Jr., Midland, TX; 5 grandchildren: Lee
Simmons, Anne Simmons Gomes, Edward B. Simmons, Matthew W. Airy and Paige
White; and 3 great-grandchildren: Jack Wyndham Simmons, Sophia Elizabeth
Simmons and Ava Lynn Gomes. She is also survived by her brother, Brent N.
Rickard and his wife Ruth, Laguna Hills, CA. Her husband Wyndham died in 1985.
Special thanks to Juanita and Flor Nava for their unceasing love and loyalty.
Graveside services are pending at Fort Bliss National Cemetery. Contributions
may be made to the Rickard Memorial Scholarship c/o Church of Saint Clement,
810 N. Campbell 79902, or Radford School, 2001 Radford 79903. Services
entrusted to Sunset Funeral Homes-West, 480 N. Resler, El Paso, Texas 79912.
Please visit our online register book at www.sunsetfuneralhomes.net
Published in El Paso Times from January 30 to February 1, 2011