Ellen Kortsch White (1919-2008)

Pictures of Ellen, primarily as a young person but some as a child and a few when she was older.

Ellen’s Early Days

Unlike all of her brothers and sisters, Ellen wasn’t born in Milwaukee but Passaic, New Jersey, during the short time Grandpa Kortsch was assigned there for his job and following their brief stay in Florida. For more information about this period in the Kortsch family, go to Paul Kortsch and Kortsch Family: Earliest Photos.

Ellen graduated from Whitefish Bay High School in 1937, where she participated in the school band on the alto saxophone.

Between 1939 and 1942 she worked as a clerk at Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance.

Ellen and George White

Ellen married George J. White, probably in 1943. It proved impossible to find more of George’s biographical information than his dates (1920-1985), that he was working as a grocery store clerk in 1940 and had graduated from high school a year or two earlier, and that he served in the Army during World War II.

His draft registration card (below) does offer one informative detail: in 1942 he was working at Milwaukee Coke and Gas, where Ellen’s father was a finance executive. It’s entirely possible that Ellen and George met while she was visiting her father.

In 1950 he was working as a salesman in a hardware store. What I remember most about him was his playful sense of humor.

Pictures of Ellen and George’s son, David (b. 1944) can be seen in his album. There are none of their daughter, Eileen (b. abt 1961).

Other Collections of Ellen’s Pictures

There are also pictures of Ellen as a young person most notably in Mom’s Photo Album and Travels Without A Donkey. For all of her pictures, use the search bar.

Ellen is buried next to George in Resurrection Cemetery, Mequon.

Ellen’s Photo Collection