Death Announced of Our Beloved Food Writer, Lee White

Lee White

It is with deep sadness that we have learned that Lee White passed away at the end of last week at the age of 79. On a personal note, I am devastated on so many levels by this news.

Lee has been contributing columns to LymeLine for more years than I can remember. Each one was a true original and her back stories to the recipes she shared were always informative with often a nice splash of humor. They were an extremely popular feature of LymeLine, drawing multiple readers week after week.

What readers did not see, however, were the covering notes that Lee sent to me and another editor with whom Lee shared the same column, which brought at minimum a smile, sometimes a chuckle, and, on occasions, a full-throated, out-loud laugh! Lee always had a tale to tell and she told it with minimum words to maximum effect.

Lee certainly did not mince words nor did she suffer fools gladly, but at the same time she was generous to a fault and one of the most caring people I have ever met. She was full of passion about food (obviously) but also causes in which she believed. She not only served on the Groton Board of Education, but fed its members on occasions along with her family, friends, neighbors, fellow ‘foodies’, former colleagues, election workers … the list is endless.

When she lived in Old Lyme and was my near-neighbor, she hosted parties — sometimes for causes and sometimes for fun — as if it were her job. She was the quintessential host and just a wonderful, vibrant personality to have in the neighborhood.

We will miss her so much here at LymeLine. At this point, I am not sure what we will do about a food column, but in the meantime, we will likely run some of her older columns to honor her memory.

We will publish her official obituary as soon as we receive it.

Visit this link to read a lovely tribute by her friend and the Community Editor of The Day, Lee Howard.

Dear Lee, rest in peace. A bright light in the world of food may have been extinguished but the joy and knowledge it shared will be everlasting.