Over My Shoulder

Chapter 15—Setting Up Housekeeping

Our friends planned a pretty wedding for Dores and me on Grandma’s lawn. But at the last minute a rainstorm blew up and we had to hurry to the sanitarium chapel and leave our decorations behind. However, it was a memorable wedding. Father performed the ceremony and Grandma gave an inspirational talk. Among other things she said: OMS 106.1

“God wants the home to be the happiest place on earth, the very symbol of the home in heaven.... Marriage does not lessen their [the couple’s] usefulness, but strengthens it. They may make that married life a ministry to win souls to Christ.... As the family relation is formed here below, it is to give demonstration of what they shall be, the family in heaven above. The glory of God is ever to be made first.... OMS 106.2

“I would say, Make God your Counselor. Blend, blend together.... Let the light of heaven shine right in the home ... in every word and in every action. You are not called to give up your identity.... Well, then, how shall they blend? Counsel together. And if there be any difference of opinion, yet we would say, Counsel together, and the blessing of God will come right into the heart.” * OMS 106.3

Her prayer, which followed immediately, included not only the bride and groom but the entire audience, the sanitarium family, the church, and all of God’s children. OMS 106.4

The following evening a serenading party found me at the ironing board helping Mother prepare for the trip to Washington. She was upstairs packing. Father and Dores were at the office, gathering documents and materials to be taken to the General Conference. Our honeymoon came several weeks later when Mother returned with the others from the East and resumed her responsibilities in the home. Dores and I then accompanied Grandma on a three-week tour, visiting the three newly acquired sanitariums at Loma Linda, Glendale, and Paradise Valley, in southern California. Seventh-day Adventists had been instructed that it was their privilege to demonstrate God’s love by means of ministry to the needy and suffering. But how could our members do this? They possessed little of this world’s wealth. The purchase of these three sanitariums, at about one third the original cost of erection and equipping, made possible a forward move in medical missionary operations throughout our ranks. By frequently recounting God’s special providences in times of crisis, Grandma gave new impetus to the work and fresh courage to the workers. OMS 106.5

In after years, she often visited these sanitariums and gave counsel and encouragement to those connected with them. Loma Linda was her special delight. She foretold for it an important future, not only as a sanitarium but also as an educational center in which medical missionaries were to be educated for worldwide service. Of this institution she said, “I am thankful that we have a school at Loma Linda.” OMS 107.1

My father’s home, which we called the White House, was near Elmshaven. It stood on a knoll between the health-food factory and the main traveled road leading from St. Helena up the steep mountainside to the sanitarium. In that beautiful little valley surrounded by pine-covered hills, we found many peaceful places to walk, and many delightful meals were served to invited friends under the pine trees in our own yard. Among papers of long ago there has been preserved the menu of a Thanksgiving dinner served around the long picnic table, which on this particular occasion seated twenty-one. The usual items generally listed on an orthodox Seventh-day Adventist Thanksgiving menu were all there, as well as the names of those present and where they were born. Reading this list indicates that we were truly a cosmopolitan group. The host, my father, was born in Rochester, New York, and his wife, May, our stepmother, in Calcutta, India. The twins and Grace first saw the light of day in Cooranbong, Australia, and their two younger brothers, Arthur and Francis, in St. Helena, California. OMS 107.2

Professor Krasoff, whose family had an apartment in our house, began life in Kiev, Russia, and Mrs. Krasoff in Athens, Greece. Mr. and Mrs. B. Johnson came from the United States; Mr. A. Carter was born in Cambridge, England, and his wife in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. Mrs. Perillat and daughter, Phyllis; Prof. W. B. Netherton and wife; Janie Workman, and our distinguished guest, Elder Arthur G. Daniells, president of the General Conference represented widely separated points in the United States. Dores and I began life about as far apart as was possible on this continent, he hailing from Washington, New Hampshire, and I from Oakland, California. OMS 107.3

Grandma White was not present. In her older years she seldom attended such functions, but lived quietly in her peaceful home, Elmshaven. Thus preserving her strength, she poured it forth in her ministry of writing and speaking. OMS 108.1

On her birthday, November 26, Grandmother rose early, as usual, and helped the family harvest the crop of Japanese persimmons. The orchard yielded three bushel baskets that year, and she picked until the last of the luscious fruit had been gathered. Later in the day Professor Hill, teacher of the local church school, brought the children to sing for her. Grandma was seated on the front veranda, and after the songs she visited with the children for half an hour. OMS 108.2

Father reminded her that it had been sixty-five years since the family physician allotted to her only three more months of life. Since that day she had labored in human weakness but in divine strength as it was given her day by day, always sufficient to meet the needs of the hour. OMS 108.3

Having made the overland train trip from Michigan to California shortly after the transcontinental railway line was opened, Grandma had since made countless similar crossings. She had spoken to hundreds of large audiences to which many individuals came simply out of curiosity to hear a woman preach. They had gone away thrilled with a new understanding of the plan of salvation and a new appreciation of God’s eternal, unchanging love. OMS 108.4

Father also reminded Grandmother of her two and one-half years spent in Europe, and her long journeys on that continent. She had labored for nine years in Australia, building up our gospel and institutional work in that country. The circulation of her books had reached an impressive figure, and she had definite plans for writing yet more. Many of her books had been translated into foreign languages and were being circulated throughout the world. When questioned how all this was made possible, she gave all the glory to God. The Thanksgiving season was truly meaningful for her. OMS 108.5

One day when the twins were about 14 years old they received a notice to the effect that a freight shipment was awaiting them at the St. Helena station. To their joy and delight, when they opened the large box they found a printing press with equipment and several fonts of type. OMS 109.1

This was a gift from Uncle Edson, Father’s older brother who was working in Tennessee. The type was some that he no longer needed in his printing business, but it was still clear and usable. Although the press had been badly damaged in transit, the twins became inspired to get into the printing business at once and felt there was no time for delay. Father was away in the East, but with Mother’s consent, they paid the freight charges and took the broken press to the blacksmith’s shop for repairs. OMS 109.2

The well-meant gift from their Uncle proved unsatisfactory, but Grandma, realizing that this could be the beginning of something good for the boys, enlisted Mr. Clarence Crisler to purchase a little press and some basic printing equipment in San Francisco. The cost was $125. Before long the twins were able to notify the sanitarium, the health-food factory, the residents of the community, and the businessmen of St. Helena that Henry and Herbert White were ready to receive orders for job printing. From then on, their time was divided between school, printing, and gardening, with heavy emphasis on the printing. They transformed the old prune shed on Grandma’s farm into the Elmshaven Press. As their work expanded, Father and Grandma bought new type and equipment for them, and the twins had all the work they could keep up with and still do justice to their studies. OMS 109.3

As a young man, Father had worked in the Pacific Press printing office. At that time he regarded a knowledge of typesetting as an essential part of every young man’s education. He had arranged for the twins to obtain a little printing experience while they were still in elementary school. OMS 109.4

When Henry and Herbert got into the work, they found that they had to develop their own practical business skills without Father’s help, for he was often away from home just when they needed him most. At such times they could often be heard singing as they went about their work, “Oh, where is our wandering Pa tonight?” When college days came, the press was transferred to Angwin and became the College Press. It provided work for many ambitious students who needed to earn as much of their school expenses as possible. Besides operating the press, the twins taught printing at the college. Later in China, Herbert was to superintend the Signs Publishing House for six years. OMS 109.5

In the meantime my husband and I had settled down in a small apartment in Father’s large house, fully expecting to remain there as long as Dores was needed in the Elmshaven office. OMS 110.1