The Mathews County Board of Supervisors adopted a proclamation during last Thursday’s board meeting recognizing entrepreneur and philathropist Roz White for her many contributions to Mathews County. In addition, the Mathews Rotary Club presented her with a Paul Harris Award to express appreciation for her many years of support for the club.

The proclamation was a mini-biography of White’s life, from her childhood in Mathews and graduation from Mathews High School, where she was editor of the newspaper, captain and pitcher on the softball team, and valedictorian, to her graduation from Mary Washington College, first job at the Library of Congress, and marriage to Mathews County native, the late Jeff White, her husband of 65 years.

It also outlined the many ways in which White has served Mathews County, including as a founding member of the Mathews Community Foundation and through the charitable trust she and her husband established, The White Foundation, which has provided grants to teachers and students in Mathews for the past 20 years. White was a contributor toward the purchase of the historic Sibley’s General Store, provided the funding for the lighting installation at the girls’ softball field, and supported and served on the board of the Bay School Community Arts Center, donating the building where the center is located.

In addition, she was the first supporter of Williams Wharf and continues to support both the Mathews Rowing Association and the Mathews Land Conservancy, and she contributed financially to the Mathews Boys and Girls Club and financed the loan for the construction of the gym.

Supervisor Tom Bowen, a Rotary member, said, “It’s very unusual to find someone who’s played such a major role to benefit a community.” He said that over the years whenever the Rotary Club fell a bit short of being able to complete a project, a member would approach White “and she came through time and time again.” He said she exemplified the Rotary motto, “Service above self.”

In accepting the honors, White drew laughter, saying, “I had more fun doing them than listening to it.”

White said she and her husband “enjoyed what we were doing.” She spoke of the couple’s indebtedness to the teachers who taught them at Mathews High School, saying, “We considered the education we had outstanding” and believed that “if the county profits, the world will profit.”

“It was the greatest pleasure of our lives to do something for Mathews County, the village that raised us,” she said.