Bio-White, Charles Minor

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Charles Minor White
(1884-1944)

Charles Minor White was born on Leap Day (Feb. 29), 1884 at Haseville, Linn County, MO, the son of Lester and Susan (McCarty) White. His only son was killed in military service during the Korean War.

As a newborn, Charles moved with his parents to Isabel, Barber County, KS, shortly afterward to be joined by his grandparents, uncles, aunts and young cousins.

In about 1910, at the age of 26, Charles married Fay Stark Shoemaker (1884-1951), daughter of John and Fay (Stark) Shoemaker. She is said to have been a seamstress, animal lover and piano player.

They had one son, Minor Fay White.

In 1910, the federal census shows the newlywed couple residing in Valley Township in Barber County. Under their roof that year was Fay's widowed mother. Living next door was Charles' sister and brother in law, Nona and George Washington Sellers and children. Both men were listed with occupations as farmers.

Wichita's busy Douglas Avenue

As farmers, Charles and Fay lived near Nashville, Kingman County, KS, in the mid-1920s and early 1930s. In 1932, they relocated again to Wichita, where he labored as a flour mill operator. Their son is known to have moved to Wichita in 1926, so perhaps the entire family was there at that time as well.

Charles died at the age of 60 in Wichita, in 1944. The details are not known.

Fay outlived him by several years. She passed away in 1951, at the age of 67. They are buried at Wichita Park Cemetery, beside their son Minor, and their grandson Charles.

~ Son Minor Fay White ~

Son Minor Fay White (1913-1951) was born in 1913 in Isabel. He moved to Wichita in 1926, when he was age 13, although his parents are not known to have relocated there until about 1932.

He married Nina Mae Sutter (1911-1991). They had two known sons, Charles Minor White and Harry Minor White.

Minor spent three years in the US Air Force during World War II. Said the Wichita Eagle, "He served as engineer-pilot of the C-47 veteran, 'Nina Mae,' which was the lead plane on a number of important missions for paratroop-drops in the European theater," including at Normandy, France on D-Day in June 1944. He also took part part in the invasions of Sicily and Italy, and served in England, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Austria, Africa, South America and Ireland. Said the Eagle, "He received many distinguished honors, among them the presidential citation from General Eisenhower; the enlisted air crew badge; American theater ribbon; American defense ribbon; E.A.M.E. ribbon; good conduct medal; air medal with three oak leaf clusters; distinguished unit bade with one oak leaf cluster; American air force distinctive service patch."

During the Korean War, he served again and was wounded in an evacuation, receiving the Purple Heart. That that time, he resided in Spanaway, WA, and was a crew chief on a C-124 airplane, stationed at McChord Air Field near Tacoma.

McChord Air Field's camouflaged airplane hangars

On Aug. 25, 1951, while on maneuvers at McChord, Minor tragically was killed in an airplane crash, a casualty of the Korean War. The Air Force did not publicly release the details of Minor's grisly death are known. In a news story, the Wichita Eagle simply reported that he "was killed in an airplane crash at Tacoma...."

Minor's remains were returned to Kansas for burial with his parents at Wichita Park Cemetery. The funeral was led by Rev. R.L. Woods of the Meridian Baptist Church. He rests under a beautiful, flat red barre granite marker.

Minor's widow, Nina Mae, was "a teacher of educable retarded children" for a number of years in Wichita, according to the 1971 book, Ancestral and Chronological History and Lineage of the Family of Luther White and Mahala (Minor) White, Their Forbears and Descendants, 1665-1971, by Jeanette Blanche (Clark) Tarter, Edith M. (Peterie) Hoyt and Verda (White) Richey.

Nina maintained relations with her late husband's family. She spent time in August 1975 with Minor's cousin Blanche Tarter, author of the White book. Blanche in turn wrote of this visit to her son Paul, with the son replying: "Your visit with Mrs. Nina White (I notivrf she is about my age) must have been interesting and rewarding. Inasmuch as both of her sons' middle names are Minor, either she or her husband must have been proud of the name."

In October 1977, Nina is known to have visited again with Blanche Tarter in the Tarter home in Raytown, near Kansas City. "We talked a good deal about the Minor History," Blanche wrote in a letter to her son:

Capt. Minor White, as you know, was stationed several years in Germany. He married Sharron McFarland of Houston, Texas and he had an apartment over there. Nina went over there to visit them and toured the country as much as she could. She saw in Heidelberg, Germany, a bust of a man named Sir Minor, among busts of famous men. She is positive that he was our ancestor and I think so too.

She died in 1991, at the age of 80, and is buried with her husband.

Son Charles Minor White (1946-1979) was born on Oct. 5, 1946. He married Sharon McFarland, and was a captain in the U.S. Air Force. For many years he was stationed in Germany. Circa 1977, he resided in Utah, and traveled frequently on business to Dayton, Ohio. He passed away at the age of 33. He is interred with his parents and grandparents at Wichita Park Cemetery. The inscription on his marker reads: "He loved us." The cause of his untimely death is not yet known.

Son Harry Minor White (1950- ? ) was age 10 months when his father was killed. He resided in Connecticut circa 1975.