Community journalist Don White passes away at 74
Sep. 29—"He called what he did with feature writing 'living obituaries.' It was so important to him to tell people's stories." Those were the words of Don White's daughter, Amanda White Nelson, talking to the Commonwealth Journal about her father's death.
White, a longtime journalist whose career spanned 50 years, passed away suddenly Wednesday at the age of 74.
He is known well here in Pulaski County, where he not only got his start in journalism at the Commonwealth Journal in 1970, but also spent the last 10 years writing a column for the Saturday Edition.
That column, Pulaski's Past, was a popular feature of the paper. It outlined news items that happened in days gone by, from as far back as 90 years ago.
Early in his journalism career, White left Somerset in 1972 to accept a position as wire editor of The Lexington Leader.
Missing contact with the public, he joined Landmark Community Newspapers as editor of The Casey County News in 1975, where he served until moving to Anderson County in 1978 with his wife Carol. White spent most of his career as editor and publisher of The Anderson News.
It was there he also raised his children — daughter Nelson and son Dan.
Nelson said her father instilled the love of journalism in them, sometimes taking them with him when he worked.
That helped shape their lives, she said, with her pursuing a communications job and her brother, a teacher, earning a communications degree.
When asked what life was like with her father, she said, "It was always an adventure."
She said her father had lost his own father when he was 7 years old, and she feels like that impacted his life and his desire to connect with other people.
She said White found it important to expose his children to as many situations as possible — from stopping to talk to the woman snapping beans on a porch in rural Kentucky to going to New York City.
"He was the type of dad to say, 'Why are you doing your homework? That's boring. Let's go to Lexington,'" Nelson said.
In fact, she related a story about the day her father met her then-boyfriend (now husband). They were living in Lawrenceburg, and her father said, "Let's go to lunch."
"And my husband thought he meant somewhere in town. The next thing he knows, we were in Louisville, over an hour away."
Nelson also noted that her father had a love of lifting the spirits of others through humor. The family have a lot of comfort knowing that is what he was doing on his last day.
On Wednesday, one of the last things he did was go to the dentist's office. Nelson said her mother called the office Thursday morning to talk to the employees there.
They were surprised to hear about his death, Nelson said. "The person she talked to on the phone said, 'He and Dr. Saindon were just laughing and having the best time.'
"To know that right up until the last minute he was connecting with people still, asking about that doctor's life and making jokes, I was just happy to hear that."
But as much as he enjoyed making others laugh, he still took his job as a community journalist seriously.
During the latter part of his tenure at The Anderson News, his paper published photos of convicted drunk drivers as a deterrent. DUI's declined 37 percent from 1999-2000, and the National Commission Against Drunk Driving presented him with their Media Awareness Award.
The Executive Director of the Kentucky Press Association David Thompson praised White for his many years of outstanding community journalism in the state of Kentucky.
"Don never backed away from covering the news even when he knew he would get some grief for what he reported," Thompson stated. "But what stands out most about Don's commitment to journalism was publishing mugshots of those who were charged with driving under the influence (DUIs). Those people were not happy their picture made the paper but Don felt it was the right thing to do if it would discourage people from driving while intoxicated. Don received national attention for his effort but he didn't care as much about the acclaim as he did hoping it would decrease the number of those charged with the crime."
In Kentucky Press Association contests, White's newspaper won hundreds of awards, including at least one first place in nearly every category, and nine for community service.
The versatile newsman won at least one first in 15 different categories, and the paper, which competed against the state's largest weeklies, was named a first place General Excellence winner eight times.
He was inducted into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame in 2016.
White was proud of his professional accomplishments, but Nelson said that wasn't his biggest motivator.
"While he enjoyed that aspect, that wasn't truly where his heart was," she said. "His heart was meeting people, usually strangers, and talking to them."
Then, he would take notes, take nice photos and tell their story in the pages of his newspaper.
"I think he took so much pride in knowing that he was doing something for that person and for their family, or business, or politics or whatever he was covering."
Funeral arraignments are pending.
