Carol Ann Neville White passed quietly into God’s nearer presence in her Pagosa Springs residence on April 8, 2024, at the age of 84 after a long battle with cancer. She was born in Oklahoma City, Okla., on Aug. 10, 1939. She married James R. White Jr. on June 25, 1960; they spent a loving 63 years together and she is survived by him. Other surviving relatives include: her brother, Baird Neville (Sandra); daughter Mary Helen White Cammack (David); son James N. White (Leigh); son Scott G. White (Rosemary); grandchildren Jacob Cammack (Codye), Daniel Cammack (Laurel), Jennie White Siebenmorgen (Evan), Samuel White (Ryquiel), John White; and nine great grandchildren, Caroline, Lucy, Amelia, Jasper, Alder, Zaya, Blayke, Brooklyn and Josie. She was preceded in death by her father, Elzer Baird Neville; mother, Clola Ouida Payne; and son Christopher. She was a member of the Cherokee Nation with lineage stretching back through the Trail of Tears.
Carol Ann graduated from the University of Texas, Austin, with a BS Degree in education in 1961 and was a member of ZTA Sorority. She taught school in Austin, Texas; on the Navajo Reservation in Shiprock, N.M.; on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation in Dulce, N.M.; in Lumberton, N.M.; and in Pagosa Springs, Colo., until she retired in 1995. Carol Ann had special training in teaching dyslexic children and used those skills in her entire professional career. She was an exceptionally gifted and devoted teacher, her first-grade students always remembering her — all of them her favorite students.
She and James lived on the Blanco River in the Basin for 48 years, where they raised their children, and helped raise their grandchildren and great grandchildren — laughing and splashing in the Blanco River by the turtle rocks.
After retirement, she and James returned to their roots, ranched for a time in Dripping Springs, Texas, Hill Country area, where she also did local charity work for food distribution, substitute taught in local schools and helped with ranching operations. She also home taught her grandchildren as they were sent down from Colorado, one by one, for lengthy visits and work-ethic instruction.
She was always joyful and concerned about the well-being of her friends, family and all she met, gave attention and had dignity for everyone. Carol Ann loved her horses, watermelon, bright colors, reading, skiing, giving her grandchildren “ice cream money” and the many adventures of living in the Blanco Basin.
Carol Ann was a member of St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church in Pagosa Springs, where she participated in the food box program, Loaves and Fishes, work at St. Christopher’s Mission to the Navajo in Bluff, Utah, and hosted an annual church service, baptism and picnic at her Blanco Basin home.
Like the total solar eclipse that swept over the Texas hill country on the day she passed, Carol Ann (Nanny) was a rarity. Resilient, sparkling, committed, decisive, witty, adventurous and loving, Nanny was a mother and a teacher at heart and poured all her heart and soul into all the children she interacted with, especially her own children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Nanny never grew old and set the example for how to run through the finish line in life as strong as ever. Nanny will be fondly remembered for her wry sense of humor, something she maintained even up to the last moments. She was an inspiration to all of us and the world is a better place because of what she brought to it. Her golden light will be lovingly missed.
Services were held April 13 at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church and are available for viewing anytime on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9fGtYxmMbY). In lieu of flowers, Carol Ann would like contributions sent to Wings Early Childhood Center in Pagosa, Hospice of Mercy or St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church.
