During the first world war, she met Leo White, an injured veteran who loved to dance, according to her nephew Keith Arndt. Because Leo was divorced, Pearl feared her mother’s disapproval and eloped with Leo. The pair never had children, but they had many adventures.

During the war, they worked for the defense department in Bremerton. After the war, they lived a nomadic life on the railroad, she cooking, he managing kitchens aboard the Union Pacific Railroad. For 15 years they traveled throughout the western states. “I still have the books filled with every menu they prepared from 1948 to 1960,” said Arndt, the nephew who moved in to take of White during some of her final years.

They had dreams of settling in Las Vegas to run a nursery, but Leo’s health remained compromised from his war injuries and in 1960 he retired.
Pearl and he moved to Monroe and bought their first ever home on Blakely Street. Pearl worked for the Monroe Correctional Complex doing secretarial work for the next 10 years, retiring to care for Leo, who died in 1970.

In the next decade, Pearl cared for many other loved ones, including her mother, her cousin Alberta Till, who was disabled by severe diabetes, and Dora Studeman, an aunt. “She was someone who took care of other people,” said Arndt.

Her caring didn’t end with her family, though. Pearl was deeply involved in the community, and served as a volunteer bookkeeper with the foodbank for many years. Food bank director Julie Morris credits Pearl with mentoring her while she was taking the helm of the food bank following the death of her mother, food bank founder Julia V. Morris.

Pearl continued to volunteer with the food bank into her 90s. She also belonged to several of the lodges that became very popular in the first half of the 20th century, including Kloshe Tum Tum of the Degree of Pocahontas, Tolero of the Rebecca Lodge, and the Ladies Encampment Auxiliary #2, the last two affiliated with the Oddfellows. She also belonged to the Ladies Auxiliary of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Pearl remained in good health for her entire life, and even in her final year, her only prescriptions were for vitamins and supplements, said Arndt. He moved into her Blakely Street home with her to care for her in recent years. A year ago, she finally moved to a long-term health care facility in Bothell, where she died Sunday, Aug. 10.

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