Jill Ann White

Jill Ann White, 72, said goodbye to us on June 7, 2022. Born in Wichita, Kansas on April 5, 1950, to Harlan and Melba Jean (Boatright) Swartzendruber. Jill graduated from Wichita Southeast High School in 1968 and attended the University of Kansas for two years. Jill received her BA in English from Wichita State University. Medieval History was her second major-she loved history. Jill married Larry Thomas White of Wellington, Kansas in 1969. They moved into a nice duplex, near Chautauqua and 2nd St. Her first son, Lance Tysen White was born at Wesley Hospital in 1970 and a second son followed, Ryan Travis White in 1972. In 1975, the family moved to a house on North Pershing, where they lived for 20 years. Jill worked very hard during her long career. After graduating from college, she did her student teaching for USD 259 at Wichita North High School and worked for the district for a couple years. Teaching English at East High School didn’t really suit her, and she soon began her home-maker period, where she didn’t work and raised her sons, while beginning her painting career. She was a member of a toll painting group, which led to adult friendships and support. Jill began toll painting to cope with Motherhood. She developed a strong, unique folk artist style, painting all sorts of wooden objects for the Home. She painted in acrylic paints and would finish pieces by applying varnish and then quickly wiping most of it off so that it had a patina type finish. Jill would use the end of her wood paintbrush to meticulously paint a long row of tiny dots, serving as a simple border, each quite perfect and uniformly round. The technique created a textured dot, dome-shaped and raised, a tiny dollop of paint. Jill painted plump symmetrical red hearts and bright colored tulip motifs. Some pieces are figural, like ‘The Beginning-1969,’ a large panel that depicts the beginning of her family. She decorated unfinished wooden pieces of all sorts: spice boxes, recipe boxes, pill boxes, geese decoys, small table-top cupboards, and some larger cabinets, end tables, etc. Jill would sell her hand painted originals at Arts & Crafts shows throughout the region. Most notable, Jill exhibited at War Eagle in western Arkansas for many years. People came in droves to buy her painted country furnishings. Every year Jill would nearly sell out at War Eagle. The knife maker, who had the booth next to her, would tell her, “Jill, you need to bring more stuff.” She also exhibited at the Art & Book Fair in Wichita, the Smokey Hill River Festival in Salina, and the Prairie Village Art Show in Prairie Village, Kansas. Jill actively painted from 1972 to 1990. Jill had lots of other passions and interests she wanted to spend time exploring. In the Eighties, Jill went into the workforce. She was a partner in a small, quaint country home furnishings store called the Country Ritz. The store enjoyed success, but the collaboration only lasted a couple of years. Later, Jill teamed up with her sister Vicki to start a new store, Daughters of Druber. Daughters of Druber was a half mile west of the Country Ritz, in what is now called the Douglas Design District. The store was a great place to sell her folk Art and the artworks of her painter friends, including Sandy Gore Evans. Late in the Eighties, Jill began her Property Management career by working as a leasing agent for Leasing Plus. She in time purchased the company. Jill went on to purchase two other management companies and began doing business as Total Management Services. Jill and her sister/partner Vicki, managed residential rental properties for over twenty-five years, serving many Owners and Tenants. Jill was a world traveler. In the Nineties, she began taking trips to Europe, Central America, and South America. She would travel with one to three close friends typically. She would be the planner for these tours, doing research before the trip and planning things out. Her travel friends included Carol Ebel and Joan Fox to name a few, but there were many others through the years. Jill enjoyed several scuba diving trips to tropical coastal locations during her middle-aged years. However, most of her foreign travel centered around visiting important historical places and visiting places of great natural beauty. Jill especially enjoyed two trips to Europe with her son Ryan. On their first trip, they visited Switzerland and found the original Swartzendruber homestead from the 16th century. Jill also traveled extensively throughout the eastern and western United States during her lifetime. Jill was also the organizer of small social clubs, including a book club, dinner club, and the Martini Girls. Jill loved spending time with her friends and attending or watching Wichita State Shocker Basketball games. Jill was preceded in death by her parents, Harlan and Melba Jean (Boatright) Swartzendruber and grandson, Lawrence Connor White. Missing her daily, her sons, Ty White of Wichita and Ryan White of Overland Park, Kansas; sister, Vicki Carter of Wichita; nephew, Bret Carter of Wichita; niece, Jenny and her husband, Derek Russell of Derby; great nephew, Michael Conroy III of Derby; and great niece, Charlee Conroy of Derby. Jill wanted to be cremated so that she could “…grow daisies.” Services will be held at Downing and Lahey, 6555 E. Central, in Wichita at 12:00 pm on Wednesday, June 22, 2022. A Celebration of Life will be held later that day at Crestview Country Club, 1000 N 127th St. E, in Wichita from 4:00 to 7:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, memorials can be donated to the Wichita Art Museum or a Kansas Hospice of your choice.