Vera N. White

Vera was born on Oct. 24, 1934, in Haverhill, Ohio, to Dora Marie Whitt Creech and Henry Harrison Creech. Her only sibling is a brother, Robert Creech, an Orthodox priest in Spokane. She graduated high school in Waverly, Ohio, in 1952, and attended Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va., for two years, where she majored in journalism.

She had various jobs, working for Peter Kiewit & Sons Atomic Energy Installation in Piketon, Ohio, and as a legal secretary in Mobile, Ala., and for Blake and Givens in Lewiston. She worked as a secretary for Hahn Supply Co., Material Distributors, Inc., William I. Parr, architect and as a Senate minority secretary for the Idaho Legislature.

Her favorite years were spent working for the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, where she wrote her INK column and the Cookbook Corner for the Slice of Life section. She also wrote occasional cooking columns for the Lewiston Tribune, as well as penning a collection of cookbooks. Highlights of her work included a month's exchange between the Moscow, Idaho, newspaper and a newspaper in Moscow, Russia.

A lifelong Democrat, Vera participated in many political activities, including being Idaho's first female county commissioner and an Idaho delegate to the National Democratic Convention. She was also known for cooking, her wit and passion for politics. She also loved jazz and attending the University of Idaho's Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival.

Her only survivors are her brother, Robert, and cousins William Eze, Diana Whitt and Melody Whitt.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Dora and Harry.

A funeral Mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at All Saints Catholic Church in Lewiston. Memorial donations may be made to the Community Action Food Bank, 124 New Sixth St., Lewiston; or to All Saints Catholic Church, 3330 14th St., Lewiston. Vassar-Rawls Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.