Tina White
January 5, 1943 - May 17, 2023
In Loving Memory
Tina White
January 5, 1943 – May 17, 2023
Our beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, daughter, sister, aunt, niece and friend suddenly and peacefully passed away on May 17, 2023 at the age of 80.
Tina was born in Winkler, Manitoba on Jan 5th, 1943. First daughter to Henry and Anna Unrau and a little sister to Abe. The family moved to St. Catherines, Ontario where the family grew to 5, Agnes, a little sister and friend. After living in Ontario for a short time, the family drove across Canada and moved to Abbotsford, BC. The family quickly grew to 8 with the blessing of brothers Peter and Henry and another little sister Anna. The family were dedicated members of Olivet Mennonite Church in Abbotsford. She was the rock and strength to many in her family. Tina attended North Popular Elementary School and Abbotsford Secondary School where she graduated from in 1961.
After graduation, Tina worked at Krentz’s Chicken farm as nanny to their 3 children and later became manager (head chick) of their egg grading room. During her time there, she met a young British gentleman named Peter White who loved to wink at her every chance he got. They fell in love and married March 19, 1965.
The young couple started a dairy farm on Bradner Rd with Peter’s older brother, George and sister-in-law, June. The family quickly grew in 7 years, Janice (Doug), Angie (Kyle), Chris (Darlene) and Allison (Mike). In 1975, they decided to start a farm of their own, Whitegrove Farm and moved to Riverside Rd in Matsqui Prairie. Here she made beautiful, lifetime friendships and treasured them all.
Not only did she manage the house, kids and take care of the farm bookkeeping and financial management but was capable of doing anything on the farm. From milking to showing cows to operating equipment. She took particular pride in being the best hay raker on the farm.
In 1978 the family farm moved to Townshipline Rd in Matsqui. Tina volunteered endless hours in the farming community as 4-H leader, Western Canadian Classic Junior Dairy Show, Agriculture Awareness Committee and with Agrifair. She was interested in promoting agriculture and dairy in particular being one of the founding presidents of B.C. Dairy Women. Tina was also on the Agriculture awareness committee. She hosted school and youth groups and international visitors to the farm. She also volunteered at Matsqui Elementary School with hot lunches and in the library.
In her busy schedule, she managed to find new hobbies such as reading, ceramics, arts and crafts, knitting, sewed the family clothing (from lingerie to graduation dresses) and she had a large vegetable garden. Her many talents consisted of home baked bread, canning and would even make her own Christmas chocolates and decorations. Her children were one of her greatest pleasures and loved to watch them perform in band concerts, 4-H events, highland dancing and in their sports.
In 1994, they purchased land with a house in Armstrong, BC. They built a new parlour, cow barn and hay shed. After completion, they moved all their cattle and equipment to the new farm. Here Tina continued to volunteer. She was involved with the IPE (moo-ternity ward), was secretary of BC Guernsey Breeders (attended 6 World Guernsey Conferences) and helped organize the World Guernsey Conference in Canada. She was also a member of TOPS where she made many new friends.
Tina was adventurous and loved to travel. She enjoyed her many trips to England to visit friends and family. She travelled all over Canada as well as the world. France, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand and cruised to Alaska as well as the Caribbean Islands and thru Panama Canal. Her favorite trips were South Africa and a River cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam. However, she was always excited to drive down to the BC Coast to visit family and friends.
She was an exceptional citizen to all communities who were lucky to have her. She lived life richly and fully and her kindness, thoughtfulness and love will be missed dearly.
A Celebration of Life will be held at 11:30am on Sunday, July 16th at Overlander Event Centre. 2440 York Ave, Armstrong, BC. Lunch will be served and everyone is welcome.
In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting a donation to BC Children’s Hospital or a charity of your choice.
Arrangements entrusted to
Cypress Funeral & Cremation Services 250-546-7237
Condolences may be expressed to the family by phone or email through Cypress Funeral & Cremation Services:
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Comments: 2
Tina was an amazing woman and friend. She was a mentor to women in agriculture and in 4-H. She was a very special friend to me and my family. We will hold her dear in our hearts forever.
Thoughts and prayers to Peter and the whole family.
To the White Family:
We wish to express our sincere condolences to your whole family.
We first met Tina, Peter and Chris before the move to Armstrong in 1994. For the twelve years we were neighbours we shared many projects, sometimes on the Whitegrove Farm and sometimes on our own place. The most memorable project was being on the receiving end of the herd move from Matsqui to Armstrong. After saying goodbye to the Cattle Liners, I proceeded to count the herd as I knew how many were to be loaded. After several counts I could only conclude that one animal was still on the liner. With much trepidation I phoned Peter in Matsqui to relate the bad news. “Oh don’t worry about that, she got away from us when we were loading, I’ll bring her up in the stock trailer tomorrow “. Much relief on my end.
You are in our thoughts, prayers and memories at this time as we try to focus on the good times we had together.
Jack and Margaret Mather