Louise Dorothy White

Louise White, 93, of Country Club Hills, IL passed peacefully at home on June 10, 2024 with her daughter Erika Kate by her side. Louise was very loving, kind, gentle, intelligent and funny. She will be dearly missed by her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.

Louise grew up in the Hazelton area of Pennsylvania and in Bound Brook, New Jersey with her parents George and Anna Zillig and her older sisters Evelyn and Kathryn (Kay). She enjoyed music from a young age. She played cello in a community orchestra and sang in a church choir in her youth. In later years she also played piano, zither, and alto and tenor recorders.

At the encouragement of her sisters, she was the first in her family to go to college. She graduated from Douglass College in New Jersey, which was the women's college of Rutgers University at the time. She studied Zoology and lived in the German House there for a year. Following graduation, she received a Fullbright Scholarship and studied Zoology and German in Hamburg, Germany for a year before pursuing a master's degree in Zoology at Duke University in South Carolina.

Louise worked as a teacher for many years, starting with teaching college students while pursuing her master's degree, and then at Hillsdale College in Michigan. After meeting her husband Richard (Dick), who was also a teacher, she taught at Thornton High School and then at Homewood-Flossmoor High School. She focused on teaching German and Biology, but also taught Physical Science and English Literature over the years. Louise and Dick shared a love of teaching the German language, and took several groups of students to Austria and Germany. They were married for over 58 years.

Louise and Dick were lifelong nature lovers, and when they married, they chose a house very close to land destined to become a forest preserve. They greatly enjoyed working in their yard and garden through the years, and watching the birds and other wildlife visitors. After retiring from teaching, Louise enjoyed water color painting, stamp collecting, and travelling with Dick.

Louise was a devoted wife to Dick and loving mother to her stepson Greg, son George and daughter Erika Kate. She greatly enjoyed getting to know her grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Louise was predeceased by her parents George and Anna Zillig, sisters Kay and Evelyn, husband Dick, and stepson Greg. She is survived by her daughter Erika Kate, son George (Emily) and his family, by Greg's children and grandchildren, and by nieces, nephews, and other relatives. She is also survived by two very devoted dogs.

A celebration of life will be held for Louise at a later date. The family may be reached at white5432@outlook.com (or by your usual means of contact) for details. In lieu of flowers, donations in her honor may be made to the South Suburban Humane Society or PAWS of Tinley Park.