2025 SESSION
ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 313
Celebrating the life of Jackson Stuart White, Jr.
Agreed to by the Senate, February 22, 2025
WHEREAS, Jackson Stuart White, Jr., a beloved husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and longtime member of the Abingdon community, died on September 10, 2023; and
WHEREAS, a native of Richmond, Jackson Jack White graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School before enrolling at the College of William & Mary, where he met his future bride, Sylvia Beck; and
WHEREAS, Jack White graduated from the College of William & Mary with an A.B. degree in government and a commission as a second lieutenant in the United States Army Reserve; he began active duty as a United States Army artillery officer after a brief period as a writer for the Coalfield Progress in Norton; and
WHEREAS, upon his discharge from the United States Army, Jack White resumed his career in journalism, marrying Sylvia Beck while working in Bluefield, West Virginia, for the Associated Press, where he covered stories throughout Southwest Virginia and southern West Virginia; the couple moved to Bristol after he accepted an offer to become the 11 o'clock news anchor for the NBC affiliate WCYB-TV in Bristol; and
WHEREAS, Jack White's keen interest in the law led him to the University of Virginia School of Law in 1961, where he graduated near the top of his class, was chosen for the editorial board of the prestigious Virginia Law Review, and was student assistant to former Dean F.D.G. Ribble; and
WHEREAS, after graduation from law school, Jack White and his growing family moved to Abingdon, where he practiced with the firm of Penn, Stuart & Miller; and
WHEREAS, Jack White subsequently established his own law practice, which became the law firm of White, Elliott & Bundy, where he practiced for almost 30 years and was an early adopter of technology, converting to computerized word processing, research, bookkeeping, and communications before many other firms; and
WHEREAS, Jack White was an active member of his church, serving on the vestry of St. Thomas Episcopal Church where he was a licensed lay reader, headed the finance committee, and taught church school classes; and
WHEREAS, Jack White was an active member of his community, serving in numerous leadership positions with the Kiwanis Club of Abingdon, as lieutenant governor of the Capital District of Kiwanis International, and with the Virginia Highlands Festival and Washington County United Fund, among others; and
WHEREAS, Jack White rallied the community to successfully fight attempts at censorship aimed at the public library in the early 1980s, volunteering nearly half of his work time for a full year to support the library director and Library Board, building national awareness, and garnering coverage of the fight by 60 Minutes on CBS News; and
WHEREAS, more than any accomplishment in a very active life, Jack White loved his family and was devoted to his wife, Sylvia, and their three children, the late Stacey Jean White Thomas, J. Stuart White III, and Mary Elizabeth White Edgecomb, as well as 10 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the Senate of Virginia hereby note with great sadness the loss of Jackson Stuart White, Jr.; and, be it
RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Jackson Stuart White, Jr. as an expression of the Senate of Virginia's respect for his memory.