Aug. 31, 1922 – Jan. 25, 2012

LONGVILLE, La. — Services for Rodney Ray White, 89, of Longville, La., who died Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, at a Lake Charles, La., care facility, will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Longville Baptist Church with the Rev. Stewart Graves and the Rev. Johnny Johnson officiating.

Burial will follow at Hopewell Cemetery in Deridder, La., under the direction of Johnson Funeral Home in Lake Charles.

Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday at the funeral home and from 10 a.m. until service time Saturday at the church.

Mr. White was born Aug. 31, 1922, in Tyronza, Ark., one of seven children born to Claude Earl White and Maxie Estes White. The family was a farming family and life was not easy for them. In the late 1930s, the family moved to Louisiana to farm Whitehall Plantation and later Anchor Plantation. Rodney finished high school in Vidalia, married and went to war in World War II, serving as a radio operator in the U.S. Army Air Corps and a physical training instructor.

Rodney had a gift for athletics, for making friends and a greater gift for gab. He put the latter to work and became a talented salesman, selling first chicken houses in north Arkansas, then heavy International Harvester equipment in Pine Bluff, Ark., and most recently selling trucks for Atterberry Trucks in Lake Charles. He retired in 1997, but a good salesman never really stops selling.

He was widowed in 2000, by his beloved wife, Dixie Wickersham White. They were residents of Longville for 22 years and attended Longville Baptist Church. He was also preceded in death by his two brothers, Claude Earl White Jr. and Dick Estes White; and three sisters, Wanda White, Rosemary Schriber and Betty Sue Shumway.

Survivors include two daughters, Pat Junkin and husband, Dick, of Natchez and Jackey South and her husband, Robin Semple, of Longville; three sons, Tim White and wife, Rachel, of Cordell, Okla., Randy White and wife, Robin, of Prairie Grove, Ark., and Rusty White of Carrollton, Texas; 14 grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren; three great-great-grandchildren; a number of nieces and nephews whom he loved; and one brother, Paul White and wife, Mary Lou, of Monroe, La.

The family wishes to express their sincere gratitude to the staff of The Guardian House in Lake Charles for their excellent care given to Mr. White.

Online condolences may be sent to www.johnsonfuneralhome.net.