Robert Perry "Bob" White

It is with great sadness that I write to inform you of the death of our classmate Bob White

(Robert P. White) Class of 1965, Grady High School, Atlanta, GA. Bob died at 3am on Monday,

May 23, 2016, in Richmond, Virginia of complications from a descending aorta aneurism. He

was first stricken on Saturday May 14, and operated on May 18, and was making a good

recovery. He was expecting to be back to near normal in a few weeks and looking forward to

living on his boat, but his heart stopped on Monday morning.

Bob has lived the last 28 years in Japan where he taught English. He was very interested in our

50th reunion and in reconnecting with old classmates but could not make it back from Japan for

the reunion. He did speak to several of our classmates over Skype during the reunion. And made

several posts on the classcreator website.

After graduation from Grady in 1965, Bob attended Georgia State University. In 1967 at the

height of the Vietnam war, Bob and his roommate both enlisted in the US Army. Bob served two

tours in Vietnam, in 1967 with the 269th CAB at Cu Chi, and in 1968 with the 7th Finance in

Saigon. Bob was involved in the fighting in Saigon during the 1968 Tet Offensive. Bob was

proud of his service in the Army.

After the Army, Bob returned to Atlanta where he opened a restaurant in the old Decatur train

station called The Freight Room. Seats were from old train cars. Bob had a large size model

train track added about 12" from the ceiling that ran all around the restaurant to the delight of

Decatur Children eating their peanut butter & Jelly sandwiches from the Children's Menu.

Bluegrass musicians entertained on Friday & Saturday nights. He ran the restaurant for several

years.

Bob then moved to Sapphire, North Carolina where he was a real estate agent, had a camping

goods store, and painted houses. In the late 1980s Bob moved to Japan where he taught English.

Bob married a woman in Japan but they separated after several years. Bob had no children and is

survived by his sister Ms. Columbia Jones of Atlanta.

I re-established contact with Bob about a year ago when he was in Japan. I had hoped to talk him

into returning for our 50th reunion. But it was too far for him to make it. We have talked many

times over Skype over the past year. Especially as he contemplated moving back to the US.

Last month, on April 18, 2016, Bob packed up everything he owned and came back to the US to

pursue his life long dream of sailing. He was fixing up his old sailboat in Virginia and planned to

sail on the Chesapeake Bay this summer. And next summer, he hoped to sail in the Caribbean

Islands. He had a life long love of sailing and had a sailboat on Lake Lanier while in high school.

In order to help Bob get resettled in the US, I met him in Charlotte, NC on May 10. We drove

back to Sapphire, NC where he use to live and still has friends there. It was a real trip down

memory lane for Bob since he had not been back to visit in 15 years. He enjoyed it immensely

and showed me where he had his camping goods store and many other places. I helped him

renew his NC drivers license and register to vote. We spent four days driving over the mountains

and valleys where he use to live. And had a great time. On May 13 we started the long drive back

to his boat in Reedville, Virginia. Stopped for lunch in Greenville, SC and saw Bob Easley,

Grady 65, And then drove on arriving at Bob's boat at midnight.

At 4am on Saturday May 14 Bob awoke with massive chest pains and shortness of breath. I

drove him to the nearest Emergency Room in Kilmarnock, where they evacuated him by

helicopter to the regional hospital in Mechanicsville near Richmond, VA. It was a good hospital

and they took good care of Bob. I last saw Bob on Sunday morning May 15 and he was resting

easy waiting for the Doctor to decide whether to operate or not. The hospital did a six hour

operation on Wednesday and it seemed to go well. I last spoke to Bob on Saturday May 21 and

he was looking forward to getting into rehabilitation and back on his boat.

During his short time on his boat in the boatyard in Virginia he made many good friends at the

boatyard. He had a kind, open way of talking to people and made friends where ever he went. He

will be sorely missed by his many friends.

Rusty Brooke