Reba White, avid quilter, dies at 51

After she appealed online for help finding special fabric for her quilts and mentioned her illness, people from around the globe responded.

By LEON M. TUCKER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published July 5, 2002

PALM HARBOR -- Reba White, the Palm Harbor woman who -- with encouragement worldwide -- battled with breast cancer as she created special quilts for families in need, lost that fight Wednesday. She was 51.

Mrs. White, who was born in Stamford, Conn., and came to the area in 1983, died Wednesday (July 3, 2002) at home under the care of Hospice of the Florida Suncoast.

Her cancer was first diagnosed in 1996 but appeared to be in remission until May 1999, when doctors found it had not only returned, but had spread to her bones.

As she fought the cancer, Mrs. White, in 2000, focused on her hobby: quilting.

"She did some beautiful work," Susan Dugger said of her cousin. "Totally, totally amazing -- she's going to be missed very much."

When Mrs. White posted a message on an online quilting site to ask if anyone had seen hummingbird and bunny patterns at a quilting show, the unexpected happened.

She mentioned her illness and said she wanted to make crib-sized quilts that her two grown children could use when they had kids of their own.

Within weeks, she found herself swamped with more than 200 blocks of fabric emblazoned with those patterns. They came from as far away as Sweden and South Africa.

She later decided to use the fabric to make quilts for families with seriously ill children.

"She was a special lady, very caring," Dugger said. "She just had it really rough -- and it's a shame that this happened to her because . . . she was a very bright lady."

A retired medical secretary and homemaker, Mrs. White was Jewish and a member of Quilters Crossing, Palm Harbor. She graduated from Harcum Junior College in Philadelphia.

Survivors include her husband, Sanford; her parents, Laura and Martin Saltzman, Palm Harbor; a daughter, Michele Cohen, Tampa; a brother, Ben Saltzman, Minnetonka, Minn.; an uncle and aunt, Leon and Lillian Leibowitz, Palm Harbor; and Dugger of Clearwater.

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