An Introduction to Myrtle Emma

Myrtle Emma Morris White

While I don't have anything as formal as a Mission Statement for the Mill Creek Hundred History
Blog, ever since I started writing it about ten years ago I've had a few different purposes for it in mind. First, and most obviously, it's a place for me to write about the topics I'm learning about myself and to put the information out there for anyone else who might be interested in it. I was hoping that there was an intellectual market for it, and I've been thrilled, humbled, and grateful for the following I've had over the years. However, it's always had another purpose, and it's one of the reasons I like the blog (and Facebook) format.

Since the beginning, I've tried to make and allow the blog to be a forum, a gathering place, a place where everyone else can also contribute their own personal knowledge and ask their own questions about our local history. I've always been very excited whenever someone contacts me with an old picture of theirs, whether they know the whole story behind it or not. I've been honored to share the many guests posts that others have written for us. And frankly, over the last couple of years, I'd say that most of the post topics have come directly or indirectly from questions, comments, or suggestions from readers. This has been a very rambling way of saying that I have another such item to share with everyone -- one that will flow out through several posts spread out over the next few months. It's also one that I hope might inspire others like it.

A little while back I received an email from a woman named Rebecca White Rose, who said she had a book I might be interested in. She said that her mother, Myrtle Emma (Morris) White, had grown up in the Corner Ketch area in the 1920's and 30's, and later had moved into the then-new development of Willow Run. After Myrtle and her siblings were grown, her parents then moved down the road into the house at the corner of Possum Park Road and Paper Mill Road. I'll let Rebecca tell the rest, as taken from the Foreword from the book Myrtle Emma:

Myrtle Emma White -- my mother and the author of these stories -- was born on April 29, 1923, the sixth child in a family of three boys and five girls. Her parents, Frank and Elizabeth Morris, raised their children in the countryside north of Newark, Delaware, an area now densely populated but which maintained its rural character well into the 1950's.

 After graduating from Newark High School in 1941, Myrtle attended classes at the Wilmington Art Academy. On June 7, 1946, she married Guy White. They met in Yorklyn, Delaware, where Myrtle lived with her Aunt Carrie and Uncle Harvey while performing defense work at a local mill. My father was also the sixth child in a family of three boys and five girls.

Myrtle and Guy set up housekeeping in Falls Church, Virginia, near the Washington, DC terminus for Guy's job as a fireman on the Pennsylvania Railroad. I was born in 1947. In 1950, my parents moved back to Delaware and bought a house in Willow Run, one of Wilmington's new post-war suburbs. Guy, Jr., nicknamed Rusty, was born in 1951. After my brother and I grew up and began our own lives, Myrtle and Guy moved to Hockessin, Delaware. Guy continued working for the railroad as a locomotive engineer until his retirement. Myrtle, a homemaker, wife, and mother, has yet to retire.

When she celebrated her 83rd birthday in 2006, I gave my mother a guidebook to memoir writing. Since she has always liked reading biographies, I thought she might enjoy the prospect of writing her own. To my dismay, she turned up her nose and said, "Do I have to?" A few months later, however, her first story arrived in the mail. It was wonderful. Even nicer was hearing her say how much she had enjoyed writing it. Since then, she has written stories on a regular basis. Friends and family members of all generations look forward to them. This compilation of her stories is published on the happy occasion of her 90th birthday, April 29, 2013.

Rebecca did present the book to her mother for her birthday. Myrtle passed away a year later, but I'm sure she was thrilled to see all of her stories collected in one book. And what a book it is! There are about three dozen separate stories, ranging from a few paragraphs to a few pages. They cover her childhood, through her young adulthood and child-raising days, and even some stories about her grandchildren. My plan is to publish these well-written tales in small doses over what will undoubtedly be the next few months, at least. In addition to the stories in Myrtle's own words, I'll add my own additional (and hopefully, clarifying) information where helpful and appropriate.

Myrtle (left), with four of her siblings - Martha, baby Marion (called Dukie),
Maud, and Willie, in 1929. We'll see much more of these kids to come

My real hope is that these posts will spur conversations not only about Myrtle's experiences specifically, but about memoir writing and story preservation in general. For anyone who has questions about the procedure, I know Rebecca will be around to answer any questions she can. I'm excited about this project (and no, not only because it'll allow me some quick posts while I pursue other projects as well), and interested to see where it leads. I hope you'll enjoy these stories, both on their own merits and for the rare insights they give into the history of Mill Creek Hundred and beyond.