Judge Nathan E. White doesn't worry that many high school seniors today are more familiar with Hollywood stars than they are with the founding fathers.
They'll learn, he surmises, just as he did after graduating from Plano (Texas) High School in 1960, over time and as they gain other interests in their lives besides sports and dating. But he does consider it his duty to help teach them. And it's a duty he takes seriously as the newly elected president of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.
"Our kids today need to be aware of history, period," Brother White, a member of the McKinney (Texas) 5th Ward, told the Church News. He was in Salt Lake City the week of Aug. 28 for the national convention of the American Legion, during which he gave a speech for the Sons of the American Revolution. (Please see Sept. 2 issue for article on convention.) "We are trying to make sure that people do not forget that (this country) didn't just happen, that there was absolutely a war that we came near losing and that there were a lot of sacrifices made."
Quoting the oft-used phrase that those who don't learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them, Brother White, wearing a replica of the signet ring worn by George Washington, said Sons of the American Revolution "seeks to perpetuate the memory and sacrifices of those who risked everything to bring freedom and liberty to this country."
Brother White has committed much of his life to such causes. Professionally, he is a state district judge. He is also a veteran who served on the Navy destroyer, USS O'Brien, from 1967-1969.
In his civic life, the judge has served in various "lineage societies," which are organizations with membership based on ancestral links. When asked his lineage connection to the Revolutionary War, Brother White pulled out a well-used palm pilot and gave the name of his fourth great-grandfather, John Drake, who supported the American Revolution and who is Brother White's "patriot ancestor" for the organization.
He is also a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Navy League of the U.S., the Military Order of World Wars and the Sons of the Republic of Texas, to name a few.
"A person has to be interested in history, generally," Brother White said, with his wife, Wanda, sitting next to him. She was wearing a cameo pendant of Martha Washington, a gift traditionally presented the wife of the president general of SAR.
Brother White likens people today forgetting the sacrifices of the past to the pharaoh of Egypt "who knew not Joseph" and enslaved the Hebrews. "My point is, there came a people who knew not the founding patriots and we're seeing today that people don't recognize the sacrifices of veterans. They think we're entitled to something just because we're here, not realizing it was bought and paid for with blood and sacrifice."
Knowing something of sacrifice themselves, Brother and Sister White, parents of two sons and grandparents of three, speak of their conversion to the gospel in 1984. Active in another faith in Plano, Texas, where they were married in 1964, they even started in their living room in 1973 a congregation which today has grown to a local church of 3,000 people.
Then, in 1983, while on vacation, the White family visited Salt Lake City and heard "Music and the Spoken Word."
Brother White felt drawn to investigate the Church and took his family to the Plano Ward meetinghouse. Sister White, a musician who has sung in Carnegie Hall in New York City, was asked to play the organ for sacrament meeting even before the family joined the Church.
Brother White, an attorney who attended the George Washington University Law School and Southern Methodist University Law School, took his time meeting with the missionaries. In 1984, the family was baptized, and a year later, they were sealed in the Dallas Texas Temple.
"Nathan's been prepared every step of the way throughout his life for whatever opportunity has come to him," Sister White said.
Brother White has taken his love of history to new heights. Now deeply involved in family history research, he serves every Tuesday at the stake family history center, helping others research their lineage.
E-mail to: julied@desnews.com