WOODLAWN – Donna Ann White works a full-time job at a manufacturer, serves on the parish council of St. Gregory the Great and volunteers at Sarah’s Hope, a family shelter in Sandtown-Winchester.
In her spare time, she likes to unwind at a roller rink, because it’s another chance to spend time with her children – the youngest being five teenagers who were adopted by White and her husband, Darnell.
“I love kids,” White said. “They’re fun, and they’re funny. They’re all have potential, if you get good people around them. If they grow up knowing that someone cares about them, they can do anything they put their mind to.”
White was among the honorees at the 23rd annual Mother Mary Lange, O.S.P., awards banquet at Martin’s West Feb. 14. Sponsored by the Office of Black Catholic Ministries in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, the event is a local staple of Black History Month.
Growing up, White’s household included an adopted sibling. She was already the mother of three children, Rochelle, Favaron and Timothy, when she met her husband of now 25 years. “He wanted a big family,” she said. They were foster parents to a baby boy, and then a series of infants they adopted.
Sheena, at 15 the youngest, talked about the guidance her mother provides, and said that “she’s easy to talk to.” Shantae, a high school senior who wants to attend University of Maryland Eastern Shore, said her mother’s personality made her “the life of the party.”
Stephanie, 19 and a freshman at Frostburg State University, said there was “no way I was going to miss this.” Of course, it was her mother who awoke that morning and drove to Allegany County to pick her up and make that happen.
The Whites are also adoptive parents of Shawn, 19, and Dontae, 17. He’s set to join the U.S. Marines, perhaps inspired by Favaron’s wife, Sheri, who’s in the Air Force.
“We have adopted five kids that I feel I have rescued from harm’s way, and have always felt that is why my heart is always looking to help someone,” White said, in her capsule bio in the awards program.
She is also the grandmother of seven, and great-grandmother of four.
Rochelle, White’s oldest, said, “I don’t know where I’d be without her.”
Honorees were recognized in one of three areas: leadership, service or youth ministry. White was nominated for her service to St. Gregory the Great, the parish of her childhood and still the place she worships, even though she makes a home in Gardenville.
“I grew up there,” White said of West Baltimore, where for decades her pastor was Monsignor Damien Nalepa, who died in 2012. “I could talk to him about any issue and get an honest answer. He was a down-home guy.”
Another “good guy” is her current pastor, Josephite Father Ray Bomberger. He was in attendance at a function that included remarks from Sister Rita Michelle Proctor, superior general of the Baltimore-based Oblate Sisters of Providence, and a blessing from Bishop Denis J. Madden.
Mother Lange Award recipients
Thirty-three men, women and children received awards for Leadership (L), Service (S) and Youth (Y). They are listed below, by parish.
St. Ann: Eric R. Bundy, L; Charles Stevenson Waters Jr., S.
St. Bernardine: Lorrie Ann Winder, L; Eustaquio Richardo Palabon, S; Desherra Campbell, Y.
Blessed Sacrament: Wilma J. Myles, L; Nia Nicole Freeman, Y.
St. Cecilia: Darron C. Woodus, L; Nadine Shorter, S; Cameron Laury, Y.
Historic St. Francis Xavier: Nina Shipman-Vick, L; Lynette Cynthia Richardson, S; Soroya Sharif, Y.
St. Gregory the Great: Alenthia Epps, L; Donna Ann White, S; Patience Odeh, Y.
Immaculate Conception: Yvonne Taylor, L; Walter Burriss Sr., S; Stephanie Iman Graham, Y.
St. Mary of the Assumption, Govans: Deborah G. Randall, L; Joan and Richard Calloway, S; Adaku Iwuidike, Y.
New All Saints: Ruth E. Dawkins, L; Grace Thornton, S; Joshua Henley, Y.
St. Peter Claver and St. Pius V: Richard M. Lane, L; Carolyn Lawson, S; Courtnay Washington Jr., Y.
St. Wenceslaus: William Moody, L; Ingrid Yvette Peterson, S; Beverly Louis Wade, S; Sophia Christina Fung, Y.
Email Paul McMullen at pmcmullen@CatholicReview.org
