Joseph Spencer White, Jr. ’49 died on December 27, 2005, in Stanhope, New Jersey.
Born on December 8, 1924, in Portland, he prepared for college at Deering High School and, during World War II, served in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1946. He also served for three years during the Korean conflict, from 1950 to 1953, attaining the rank of first lieutenant. During his years in the Army he received the Purple Heart twice and the Bronze Star twice, as well as the Arrowhead for amphibious landings at Leyte in the Philippines and at Okinawa in Japan. After World War II, he attended Kansas State College, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Maine before entering Bowdoin in January of 1947 as a member of the sophomore class. He became a member of Kappa Sigma Fraternity and graduated in 1948 as a member of the Class of 1949. Following his second period of military service, he became an electrical engineer with AT&T in Whippany, NY, where he remained employed until his retirement in 1989. During his career, he was associated with Bell Labs for many years on SAFEGUARD ABM systems, TELSTAR, business information systems, and microcomputer devices. For 30 years, he was a planning engineer with Western Electric. He was a member of Stanhope United Methodist Church in New Jersey and was a member of the Netcong, Stanhope American Legion and the Netcong, Stanhope Senior Citizen Club. He was married in 1947 to Amy Blake, who died in 2004, and is survived by four daughters, Daleta Potten of McAdoo, PA, Cynthia White of Stanhope, Adrienne Wilson of Greentown, PA, and Stephanie Thomas of Shreveport, LA; two sons, Joseph S. White III of Budd Lake, NJ, and Gregory White of Center Valley, PA; 13 grandchildren; and five great- grandchildren.