William Guerin White ’36, 94, died June 7 at the Allen Morgan Health Center. He was born Dec. 13, 1915, in Cameron, W.Va., to William and Lula Ingalls White. He grew up in Norfolk, Va.
He earned a bachelor of science degree from Davidson and graduated from the University of Virginia School of Medicine in 1940. His internship was at Gorgas Hospital in Panama.
He served in the military as a captain and diagnostician for the U.S. Public Health Service, spending a year in Mexico City and visiting every Coast Guard station on the Great Lakes taking chest X-rays with a portable unit. His specialty was pulmonary medicine.
In 1945, the Tennessee legislature authorized the establishment of regional hospitals for tuberculosis treatment. White was invited to participate in the development of this statewide system and was instrumental in the creation of the West Tennessee Chest Disease Hospital.
He married Billie Frances Barton in 1951. They were charter members of Shady Grove Presbyterian Church, where he served as an elder and sang in the choir for more than 40 years.
In 1975, The West Tennessee Chest Disease Hospital was turned over to the University of Tennessee, and he joined the staff of the teaching hospital and the Shelby County Health Department, where he served dual appointments. He retired in 1986.
White enjoyed tennis, boating, and music and had learned to play a variety of instruments and participated in the Memphis chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society. One of his greatest joys was spending summers at his family residence in Larrabee, Maine.
He was preceded in death by his son, William Guerin White, Jr., and is survived by his wife, Billie, 5410 Walnut Grove Rd., Memphis, TN 38120; his daughter, Gloria White (Ed Rainey); and his granddaughter, Jessica White.