Stan White
Stanley Archibald White (Stan), son of Panama Canal Engineer Clarence Archibald White (Clancy) and vaudeville star “Baby Dot”, neé Lou Ella Givens, was born in Providence RI under President Herbert Hoover (ancient history!) Stan attended two public schools in each of Chicago, Collingswood NJ, St. Petersburg FL, and Indianapolis, but also lived in Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Eight states, eight schools. (His dad was then War Department agent No. 21.) Stan graduated from Indianapolis’ Shortridge High School in June 1949, the Korean War started in June 1950, and after having lost his dad in WW2, he felt dutybound to withdraw from Purdue and enlist to fight. With his Air Force mentors, role models, training, discipline, opportunities, and encouragement, that was the best move of his life. With over 70 months of service and over 30 months of overseas wartime duty, he took the GI Bill with a maximum of 48 months of instruction back to Purdue to work toward becoming a good engineer like Clancy, his hero.
In 1965 Stan left the campus with his wife Edda Maria (m. 6/6/56), daughter Dianne Louella (b. 4/29/58), sons Stanley Jr (“Jay,” b. 5.23/58), Paul Joseph (b. 8/10/60), and John Clarence (12/23/65); his Indiana Professional Engineer License (1962, No. 9756); degrees BSEE’57 and MSEE’59 earned on the GI Bill; and his Ph.D.’65 degree (Electrical & Computer Engineering, Aeronautical & Engineering Sciences, Applied Mathematics, and Scientific Russian), made possible by his research being supported by the North American Aviation Science-Engineering Fellowship. It was a “win-win.”
Prior to enlisting in the Air Force, he’d been a newscaster and “utility” announcer at Indianapolis’ NBC station WIRE and “host” of the weekend Classical Hour(s) at Indiana’s first FM station, WABW/WXLW. While attending Purdue (1955-1959; 1961-1965) he worked part-time as a jet-aircraft-engine Development and Test Engineer at Indianapolis GM plant and always worked part-time teaching on campus too. After leaving Purdue he worked as an Aerospace Engineer/Scientist (“Rocket Scientist”) for 31 years at North American Aviation/North American Rockwell/Rockwell International Corporation, retired as Chief Scientist with a 10-year retainer as Scientific Advisor, founded and for 13 years operated SPACECorp™, a GN&C consultancy, then served as Scientific Advisor to the Chief Scientist of Honeywell’s Defense and Space operation and consulted for JPL/NASA, DoD, Rockwell, and Boeing until really retiring in 2005. Concurrently he’d held an Adjunct Professorship for over 30 years at UC and was a “World-Wide Lecturer” funded by many engineering organizations.
He founded and breathed life into the Orange County Chapters of Sigma Xi and the IEEE Signal Processing Society. He received the 2005 Vladimir Karapetoff Award for Outstanding Technical Achievement and the Leonardo da Vinci Medallion, Rockwell International Corporation’s highest award for engineering and scientific achievement. He also received four IEEE medals and the Signal Processng Society’s Distinguished Lecturer Award.
He has published widely, holds over 100 patents, 82 of them U.S., is a Life Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Institute for the Advancement of Engineering (IAE), the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the New York Academy of Sciences, and is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). In April this year he received the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding public service. He’s been concerned with medical issues for many years. His daughter died at 22 from acute lymphocytic leukemia and all 3 sons perished from Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) complications at 24, 35, and 44. In 1986 Stan was stricken by Adult-Onset Hydrocephalus, aka Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH), an incurable but treatable disorder. After 20 years of misdiagnoses, he self-diagnosed, referred himself to UCLA for ventriculoatrial shunt surgery, and has managed his own complete recovery. He serves 24/7 as a national patient peer counselor for NPH patients and their families for the Hydrocephalus Association, is considered an expert, and will lecture on the subject anywhere, anytime.
From 2010 to 2016 he was a weekly-in-home “vet-2-vet” weekly visitor for the VA, taking care of old and disabled veterans, and from 2010 to 2019 was an on-the-floor clinical volunteer in intensive-care nursing units in Providence-Mission Hospital in Misson Viejo CA. Annually he assembles his SATB Mission Hospital Christmas Carolers and they carol throughout the hospital during the 2 weeks before Christmas. He’s a former long-time member of the Orange County Master Chorale, the Saddleback Master Chorale and Concert Singers and has sung in his church choirs for over a half-century.