Rima S. White

In the early evening of July 10th during a break in the storm, Rima White, passed peacefully after her brave battle with lung cancer.   As many of you know, Mom was always very interested in the weather and its very fitting that the clouds parted for her passing. She always admired a clear blue sky.

Rima S. White was born February 26, 1932 in Brooklyn, New York. Brooklyn would be a large part of Mom's first 32 years as she was educated in the public schools; was married and had her first child, Sharon; graduated from Brooklyn College, first with her undergraduate and then with her Master's degree; was divorced and remarried to our late father, Mendel White, and had her second child, Wendy, all while surrounded by her large family that all lived in the surrounding neighborhood of Coney Island. 

Rima was the daughter of Israel and Bertha (Zwilling) Seligman.  Her father was a life-long high school English teacher and her mother was the oldest of the Zwilling clan making her the matriarch of the family's affairs and homemaker.  Both her parent's families were Eastern European Jewish immigrants. She had an older brother, Sheldon (Shelly) who passed when Rima was a little girl.

Rima and Del relocated to Howell, NJ in 1964 with Sharon and Wendy (Andrew came along later on being the only one born and raised in NJ).  Rima and Del divorced later in life but Rima remained in Howell until she and her companion, Bernie Fine, relocated to Brick in 2008.  Last year, after her terminal diagnosis, she relocated to Arbor Terrace in Shrewsbury to be closer to her family.  Rima was a teacher like her father had been and later in life worked as activities coordinator in several different nursing homes in Monmouth County.  She enjoyed being active and social, being involved in Hadassah and Eastern Star as an officer. During her early years in Howell, she loved her time in Garden Club and in advanced square dancing while later in life spent many happy hours at the Howell Senior Center. Her daughter (our beloved sister) Sharon, passed in 1999 after a long battle with Crohn's disease. Rima leaves behind 5 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren. 

Rima will be cremated as were her wishes.  While we would love nothing more to see each and everyone one of you and share in remembrance, given the current situation, we are waiting to have a memorial for Mom until a later date.  We so greatly appreciate everyone’s prayers and thoughts at this time of grief.  They are and will continue to be a source of comfort to our family. 

In lieu of flowers or other expressions of honor, you may make a donation to the American Cancer Society (https://donate3.cancer.org/), Memorial Sloan Kettering (https://giving.mskcc.org/) or the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation (https://www.crohnscolitisfoundation.org/donate).  

While we all will miss Mom, we know she is free from her pain and is somewhere in a peaceful garden with warm, sunny, dry, weather and a slight eastern breeze....truly Heaven.....

To send flowers to the family, please visit our floral store.