Flora White

Flora White was one of Heath's most beloved citizens. She was born in Heath in 1860 and returned to Heath for the summers in 1896. With her sister Mary, Miss White purchased Plover Hill and finally retired to Heath year round until her death in 1948.

Miss White was interested in the religious well-being of the entire community of Heath. She staged an out-of-doors drama pageant based on the story of David & Saul in Heath in 1921. Previously, she had founded St. Faith's Summer School here in 1910.

(Above courtesy of Heath Historical Society files in the Old Town House)

Poetess, Educator Lives Quietly In Retirement

Tucked away in her blue and white bedroom in a Greenfield nursing home is a woman, almost 90 years old and almost blind. The friend of many writers and educators, she has been a guest of the famous and nobility in past days, but she is unknown to the average Greenfield resident.

Of Gertrude Stein appearance, with clipped gray locks, Miss Flora White, poet, novelist, dramatist, former physical culturist and student of psychology and philosophy, has lived in the Parks Home on Shelburne Road nearly two years. She was born in Heath, the daughter of Joseph and Harriet White. Indicative of the times when this colorful woman began writing is that she used a nom de plume, and typical of her nature was the fact that she called herself "George Heath."

After the death of her father, about the time of the Civil war, Mrs. White and her infant daughters moved to Shelburne Falls for a short time and then returned to Heath where they bought the little house now used as the church parsonage. For many years after leaving Heath they were the guests of Rev. Esty of Amherst. Miss White and her sister received most of their schooling in Amherst before they attended teachers college in Westfield.

Very Athletic

One of Flora White's most distinctive features is that until she was 80 years old, she was considered the most athletic woman in the country. Although there is a cane leaning against her door, her appearance is still far from feeble and more that of a woman in her late sixties. As part of her interest in physical education, she introduced the culture to the Westfield teachers college when she returned there as a teacher.

As an educator Miss White began by opening a small day school on School Street in Springfield; and among her pupils, she recalled Archibald Galbraith, now headmaster of Williston Academy. Shortly after she organized a school in Concord which was known for almost 20 years as Miss White's Home.

It was under the pen name "George Heath" that she sold a story to Harper's magazine, not long after finishing school, and with the money paid her passage to Sweden. She received her diploma from the School of Pedagogery in Naas, a suburb of Gothenburg where she was a guest of the head of the school. This man, she related, was the king's most intimate friend, and through him she met Sweden's king. Norway was part of Sweden when she was a temporary resident, and at the time there was talk about it becoming a separate country.

Work in Anthology

She visited most of the European countries and lived for a short time in Wales where she traveled because of her sister's health. In her room at Parks she has a slim black book upon which is written in gold letters, "Poems by Mary A. White and Flora White." The book, published in 1939, is a memorial to Mary, her late sister.

Flora White, herself, has enough poems to fill a volume, and notice recently was made public of an anthology of post-war verse with her name among the poets.

"Bloodroots in the Wake of Circumstance" is the name of Miss White's novel. The cover comment read, "The title is a significant symbol of those life forces that have the power to maintain themselves in spite of circumstances. These forces here described are conspicuously psychic, whether tragic in outcome or triumphantly sacrificial." The book aroused the enthusiastic interest of such distinguished authors and philosophers as G. Stanley Hall, President of Clark University, and William James, Professor of Psychology at Harvard, who read its first draft more than 50 years ago.

Drama Drew Thousands

Miss White's "Drama of David" presented in Heath at the end of World War I, was the subject of critics from New York and Boston, and was attended by thousands from this part of the state. It ran for several days and was an outdoor performance.

Miss Mary Champney of Westside took the part of Saul, Miss White recalled, and Herbert Ware of Shelburne Falls was Goliath. The proceeds were used for the poor overseas.

Miss White, who is a cousin to the famous Robert Strong Woodward, has among her relatives and ancestors many notables, including Rev. William Williams of Hatfield, the brother of Isaac Williams who founded Williams college.

"But there is something more," she said, when asked about other claims. "I was one of the first persons in this part of the United States to have my appendix removed."

PUBLISHER'S ANNOUNCEMENT
(Found in the files of the Heath Historical Society)

BLOODROOTS IN THE WAKE OF CIRCUMSTANCE
BY FLORA WHITE

This dramatic and somewhat startling story is, we are told, pure fiction so far as the characters are concerned. But on the other hand we are assured that the experiences involved as well as the scenes depicted are absolutely factual.

Perhaps it is for this reason that it aroused, when first written the enthusiastic interest of such distinguished authors and philosophers as G. Stanley Hall, President of Clark University and William James, Professor of Psychology at Harvard, who read its first draft about fifty years ago.

Letters to the author are still extant, not only from these two famous men but also from many of the foremost literary critics of that day. Among these were Horace Scudder of Boston; Samuel Bowles of Springfield, Mass.; George William Curtis of Harper's Magazine, New York; and Havelock Ellis of England. All of these and many others equally competent expressed keen interest in the literary work of Flora White.

The title "Bloodroots" is a significant symbol of those life-forces that have the power to maintain themselves in spite of circumstance. These forces here described are conspicuously psychic, whether tragic in outcome or triumphantly sacrificial.

The development of events keeps the thoughtful reader's interest vividly alert and it is quite obvious that the more active the mind of the reader the greater will that interest be.

Nevertheless this novel is by no means without humor and at times has a fascinating light touch.

(Courtesy of the Heath Historical Society)