By
A funeral Mass was celebrated at Teresian House in Albany, NY, on June 18 for Sister Elizabeth Stuyvesant White, RSCJ, a scholar of Medieval and Renaissance English who taught at Newton College of the Sacred Heart and Boston College for more than 50 years. Sister White died on June 15 at Teresian House at the age of 90.
Sister White came to Newton College in 1953 as dean of students and a lecturer in English. She taught there until its merger with Boston College in 1975, after which she taught in the College of Arts and Sciences English Department and Honors Program at BC.
"My most abiding impression of Sr. Liz is that no one gave richer meaning to the stock phrase 'always there,'" said Honors Program Director Mark O'Connor.
"Not only was she always there at her desk in our office in Gasson right up until the time of her transfer to the mother house in Albany," he said, "but as our resident writing tutor in the last stage of her long career, and before that for many years as part of our Honors faculty, hers was the presence you could depend upon for whatever help you needed, scholarly or spiritual. Her detailed knowledge of every masterwork was unsurpassed, as was her patience as she trained, then guided students in written and verbal communication.”
Born in New York City, Sister White entered the Society of the Sacred Heart in 1942 and made her final vows in Rome in 1950. She received a bachelor of arts degree in Classics from Manhattanville College, a master of arts in English from Radcliffe College, and a doctorate in English from Catholic University.
Sister White was fluent in French and German and accomplished in music, particularly choral music. She was active in the Catholic Art Association, the Catholic Renaissance Society, the English Institute, the Modern Language Association and the National Council of Teachers of English.
She also taught at Sacred Heart schools in Albany, Greenwich (CT), Boston, Washington, DC, and Tokyo. Sister White was actively teaching as recently as 2007.
In 2006, Sister White received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from BC, with the following citation:
"Sister Elizabeth White's lifelong commitment to teaching as a member of the Society of the Sacred Heart has awakened intellects, shaped values, and changed lives for countless young women and men throughout the second half of the 20th century and now firmly into the 21st. Faithful to her religious congregation's mission, she sought 'to make known the love of the Heart of Christ through the service of education.'
"Her six decades of inspired teaching and careful scholarship in Medieval and Renaissance English at the Newton College of the Sacred Heart and Boston College have been a generous response to her calling to be a woman and an apostle serving God's people in faith, love, and compassion. The Boston College community is deeply indebted for all that she has done, but even more for who she has been: a gentle and reassuring presence among us whose life of commitment has taught successive generations the meaning of dedication and fidelity."
In addition to her parents, Lawrence Grant White and Laura Chanler White, Sister White was predeceased by her brothers: John Chanler White, F. L. Peter White and Robert W. White. She is survived by four sisters: Alida Lessard of St. James, NY; Cynthia Jay of Huntington, NY; Sarah White of Bronx, NY and Ann Buttrick of New York City.