[1] Mrs. White was a founding member and first President of the Louisiana High School Speech League and the Tournament of Champions.
[1][3] White was first inspired to service as a young girl, after reading Pearl Buck's accounts of peasant life in rural China.
She began her career as a teacher at Bolton High School, and she taught history and coached debate from 1950 until her retirement in 1963.
[1] In the 1980s, White helped to establish the Hope House, a shelter for battered women and their children; the Shepherd Center, an ecumenical ministry for the poor and dispossessed; and Angel Care, a charity that provided services and resources to the parents of disabled children.
[1] In the late 1990s and early 2000s, White worked with the Louisiana Governors Office to investigate discrepancies between the treatment of incarcerated women and juveniles.