Doris Jane (Whitchurch) White, age 90, of Clinton, Missouri, passed away, Saturday July 2nd 2022 at the Centerpoint Medical Center, Independence, Missouri.

A Celebration of Jane's Life will be held Friday July 8th, 2022 at the Clinton Elk's Lodge, beginning at 1:00 PM. Inurnment will be held at a later date in the Englewood Cemetery, Clinton, Missouri. Family suggests memorial contributions to the Henry County Historical Society and can be left in care of the funeral home.

Doris "Jane" White was born on April 19, 1932 to Thomas "Lexie" Whitchirch and Lucille Myrtle (Lawler) Whitchurch. Jane graduated from Clinton High School, and after graduation Jane worked as a phone switchboard operator for a time, but she is most remembered for her time working at Hendrich Brothers Allis Chalmers, Working as a bookkeeper and selling parts, a job she held until she retired after 49 years. On July 14, 1951 Jane united in marriage to Jerome (Jay) L. White and together they had two sons that kept her busy going to Cub and Boy Scouts, and many years of band. Jane also was involved in her husband's business doing bookkeeping and other chores, a job she kept doing after his death and later turned it over to her sons. She enjoyed quilting, reading, volunteering at the Museum, and taking walks.

Jane was known for her sharp mind. She was able to calculate sums quickly, find the exact belt for your model tractor without referencing the manual, or pick out the one piece of fuzz the vacuum didn't pick up off the living room floor.

She was obstinate and hard headed, which many will tell you is a family trait.

She came from a generation that didn't always share their love through words. She shared her love in so many other ways instead. In the broadest sense, she shared her love with everyone she visited through food; you could feel her love in her angel food cake and pumpkin pie and pecan pinwheels. Even after knowing someone for decades Jane would always say that she could never show up on their doorstep without food. It just wasn't proper.

You knew Jane loved you, as well, when she sent you small treasures in the mail: a clipping from the Daily Democrat, some pretty stickers sent from some charitable organization looking for donations, and perhaps an old postcard she found at an estate sale that just made her think of you. Or maybe she showed you her love by sharing her books, many found at the Senior Center, pushing one or two into your hands as you walked out the door.

If you were really lucky, you would be blessed with love stitched into a dress, a quilt, or a patch on your favorite pair of pants. Sewing was a lifelong hobby; Jane won numerous 4H ribbons as a young girl for her seamstress skills, and continued sewing and quilting throughout her life. She made scores of quilts throughout the years, giving them to her loved ones for Christmas or on birthdays or to celebrate the birth of a new child. Each one was unique and beautiful in their own way, and they were all made with hours and hours of love and attention. Even if, sometimes, there was still a pin or two left in the lining.

Jane never bought or sold cheap things. She'd learned at her job at JC Penney that one should never use the term cheap - it implies lesser value, lower condition. Instead, as she would remind anyone that dared say the word to her for the next 65 years, one should say "inexpensive." Inexpensive things may cost less, but they still have great value. Those are the bargains, the deals, the hidden gems.

As her family, we might have been sometimes tempted to call her cheap: when she refused to buy a new truck even though you could look down and see the road beneath you on the passenger side of the one she was driving; when she lived out of a cooler for weeks because she didn't want the hassle and cost of replacing her broken refrigerator and the cooler was working just fine anyway; when she gave you Christmas presents dug from the back of a closet or saved from the dollar bin at a yard sale. But she wasn't cheap. There was no lesser value or lower condition to Jane White. True, she sometimes saw the value in things we didn't, but no one could deny the value that each moment with her brought to our lives. Jane herself was a bargain. She expected little from us and gave us so very much in return.

Jane is preceded in death by her parents, her husband Jay, her brother Delbert Whitchurch, a son Ernest Ray White (who died during childbirth) and her longtime companion, Larry Bailey.

Survivors include her two sons, Walter J White (Deanna) and Wallace F. White (Christine), 5 grandchildren; Jeremy White, Jennifer Baldwin (Brad), Melissa Crawford (Johnny), Adam White, Laura Cameron (Keyleth), 5 great grandchildren; Quincy Crawford, Alex Crawford, Clinton Balwin, Henry Baldwin, and Fiona Cameron.

Arrangements have been entrusted to the Vansant-Mills Funeral Home, Clinton, Missouri.