Elizabeth Reed Burritt White, 101, of Olney, died at 1:30 a.m. Sunday, February 13, 2011, at Richland Memorial Hospital in Olney. Interment of Ashes at Haven Hill Cemetery in Olney.

Centenarian Elizabeth (Betty) Reed Burritt White was born in Bryson City, N.C., on August 10, 1909. She was the daughter of William Reed Burritt and Edith Lavinia Johnston Burritt. She had an older brother, William Burritt, who died at age 10, and an older sister, Eleanor Nigh Burritt, who died in 2001. They lived in North Carolina until her father's death in 1911, when her mother returned to Olney with her three children to live.

She was a graduate of Olney Township High School in 1927 when the high school was on Main Street. After high school, she attended Illinois State University for one year. She returned to Olney, due to the Great Depression, and worked in the bank for 18 years. She was a member of First Presbyterian Church in Robinson and Olney, where she served as an Elder, a member of Olney Chapter FR of the P.E.O. Sisterhood, a former member of Robinson P.E.O. Chapter of the P.E.O. Sisterhood, and a former member of Robinson Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

She worked at Second National Bank in Robinson for many years. Playing bridge, going to church, getting together with friends, traveling, watching Cubs baseball and being a grandmother were some of her favorite pastimes. Olney was her absolute special place to be always. Her favorite occasion was living to be 100 years old on August 10, 2009, a major accomplishment in her life.

Betty married P.A. (Steamer) White on March 1, 1947, in her home in Olney. They moved to Lawrenceville for three years, and then on to Robinson for 24 years. They returned to Olney to retire in 1975. Steamer passed away on August 7, 1984, in Olney. Betty lived in every decade of the 20th Century, living through World War I, the Roaring '20s, the Great Depression, World War II, Korean War, man walking on the moon, Vietnam War, Iran-Iraq War, Persian Gulf War and Yugoslav Wars.

She is survived by her daughter, Carol Elizabeth White Bradley; son-in-law, M.R. Bradley III; two granddaughters, Lyndsay Elizabeth Bradley and Kathryn Caroline Bradley, all of Dallas, Texas; along with several cousins.

Published in Olney Daily Mail (IL)