Marjorie Wilson White

February 7, 1929-November 30, 2020

Marjorie Wilson White passed away peacefully on November 30th at her daughter’s home in North Carolina with her beloved daughter, Cindy, and granddaughter, Callie, by her side.

Marge was known by many names…mom, Marge, Margie, Granny Marge and Gobble. She was a daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.

Marjorie Dean Wilson was born in Lee County, Kentucky. She was the seventh child of nine children. Following the death of her father when she was age 9 the family eventually relocated to Williamsburg, Ohio where she met Nicholas White who would eventually become her husband. They were married on July 26, 1947.

Marge and Nick moved to Delaware, Ohio where they attended Ohio Wesleyan University and then moved back to Williamsburg.

In 1956 Marge and Nick moved from Williamsburg to Mariemont, Ohio where she was active in school and civic affairs including membership in P.E.O. In 1970 they moved to Bloomington, Indiana, and then in 1977 to Memphis, Tennessee, where they resided until Nick’s death in 2019. While in Memphis Marge was active in the Woman’s Exchange. The family moved as Nick’s career developed from a lawyer with Taft, Stettinius & Hollister, law professor at Indiana University and finally Professor and Dean Emeritus of the University of Memphis School of Law

Marge was an avid golfer, holding several club championships. She enjoyed cooking and entertaining for her friends, family and Nick’s law students. She was a gourmet cook and consummate entertainer…the queen of the kitchen. She always had a good, and many times an inappropriate, jokes much to the delight of her grandchildren and many times to the dismay of their parents. No one left Marge’s home hungry or without a smile.

Her greatest joys, however, were the times with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was Granny Marge…larger than life. She was especially proud that all her children and grandchildren all graduated from college and went on to successful careers. Her children and grandchildren were empowered by Marge not only to achieve but overachieve in their careers.

Marge was preceded in death by her loving husband of 72 years, Nick, beloved granddaughter, Abbie, her cherished daughter, Marcia, her sister Beulah, her brothers Herschel, Charles, Clarence, Paul, Gene and Ernie. She is survived by her big sister, Doris, her sons Nick (Betsy)and Larry (Meg) and her daughter, Cindy. She is survived by her grandchildren Lucie, Katie, Nick, Callie, Ted, Grace, Lauren and Mitchell. She is survived by her great-grandchildren Elizabeth, Cassie, Peter, Anne, Mimi, James, Abbie, Anneke, Ali and Alejandro. She will be missed by all.

Interment and Celebration of Life will be in Williamsburg, Ohio at a date to be announced.

In lieu of flowers, the family would be grateful for a donation to The Abigail E. Gudeman Memorial Scholarship in Marjorie’s memory

Make checks payable to:

Rams Club

University of North Carolina

P.O. Box 2446

Chapel Hill, NC 27515

Memo line: Abigail E. Gudeman Scholarship (Marjorie White)

- James Edgar “Jim” Stockdale, long term administrator at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center in Memphis, died on December 8, 2020 at 2:46 AM as the result of COVID-19. He was born in Columbus, Ohio on July 11, 1930, but grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee. He graduated from Bearden High School in Knoxville, where he met his wife of 68 years, Dorothy Ashford. He received his bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College in Oberlin OH, spent 2 years in the U.S. Army and received his graduate degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He was hired by the University of Tennessee Medical Units in Memphis in 1955 as Assistant Director of Student Welfare, which was the beginning of a career with the University that lasted 37 years. Jim shortly became the Director of Student Activities and had responsibility for the intramural athletic program, the management of the University Center, the student council, fraternity rushing, the logistics for commencement, the orientation of incoming students, the publication of a weekly campus newsletter, off-campus housing for students, jobs for students’ wives, the creation of the Medical Units yearbook called the Asklepieion, and just about anything that affected students outside the classroom. He and lifelong friend, the late Bill Robinson, were responsible for the design and construction of the Randolph Student-alumni Center, completed in 1969.

Also, in 1969 he became the first Personnel Director of the UT Medical Units with responsibility for creating and designing the first personnel program on campus which included hiring, personnel records, orientation of new employees, wage and salary consistency, employee relations, training, and everything that related to non-academic employees, including the task of integrating the non-academic workforce. Jim was one of four people who wrote the personnel policies for the entire University of Tennessee system in the 1970’s. He was active in the College and University Personnel Association and served as its national president. Upon his retirement he was granted an Honorary Life Membership in the Association, an honor reserved for very few. Jim finished his career with the University as Assistant to the Vice Chancellor, retiring in 1992. He was active with the UT Retirees Association and served as its president.

A pioneer in women’s basketball, Jim served as the coach of the UT College of Nursing basketball team for 26 years from 1955 through 1981. Jim was a volunteer in this endeavor for the University as he coached a team of students from the University of Tennessee College of Nursing that traveled throughout the Southeast and Midwest playing teams from other nursing schools. He was instrumental in starting the Cotton States Invitational Nurses Basketball Tournament which was played in Memphis from 1957 through 1985 and during its entirety involved hundreds of nursing student basketball players from a total of 37 schools from 10 different states. Upon his retirement as coach, Jim was inducted into the Memphis Amateur Sports Hall of Fame. In 2016 he received The Champion Within a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. He continued his love of women’s basketball as he and Dorothy had season tickets to the Lady Vols in Knoxville beginning in 1993. They normally attended the annual SEC Women’s Tournament and the NCAA Final Four when the Lady Vols qualified.

Jim was an avid fisherman who spent many hours on Mid-south lakes with family and friends, but his favorite was Bear Creek Lake in Arkansas where he and Dorothy have owned a cabin since 1991. He served the Bear