Waterford Historical Society (CT)
We honor the life of our member George Cooke White, who was raised in coastal Waterford and made valuable, enduring impressions in the arts locally and internationally.
Ninety years ago, the founder of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center was born to Aida Rovetti White and Nelson Cooke White. He grew up in the same house in Waterford in which he and his wife Betsy later raised their own three children.
A long-standing supporter of the Waterford Historical Society, George recently collaborated in 2019 and 2020 on our “Art in Waterford” biographies and displays of paintings by his post-Impressionist grandfather Henry Cooke White, father Nelson Cooke White, and brother Nelson Holbrook White, as well as the biographies of Rufus and Margo Rose in 2023 and Marian Nevins MacDowell in 2024.
His far-reaching impact on theater and international understanding through the arts cannot be overstated. Please read his obituary written in “The Day” and accessible through this link: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/theday/name/george-white-obituary?id=59165725
George will be deeply missed. May God bless all our memories of him and our reflections on a life well-lived in Waterford and beyond.
Kristen M. Widham
President, Waterford Historical Society, Inc.
Art In Waterford 2020: Two Waterford Families in the Arts - The Brooks and the Whites
"The Whites of Waterford: An American Landscape Tradition" reprinted with permission of Jeffrey Andersen
Waterford Historical Society holds event during historic summer (2020)