Greg White: A Life of Service, Leadership, and Love
For most of Greg White’s career, service meant helping keep the lights on.
As an electrical engineer, cooperative executive, and eventually president and CEO of Northern Neck Electric Cooperative, White spent decades working in an industry built around providing one of life’s basic necessities. Along the way, he also served on boards, led community organizations, and gave countless hours to the place he came to call home.
These days, however, service looks very different.
It looks like caring for his wife, Carolyn, as dementia continues to take away pieces of the life they once knew. It is a role White never expected to have, but one he embraces with the same steady commitment that has marked so much of his life.
And if he could go back knowing how their story would unfold, he says he would still choose every bit of it.
“We had a lot of joy, and if somebody were to tell me, ‘Look, this is what your life is gonna be like, but this is the way it’s gonna be at the end,’ I would take it every time.”
White grew up in Mathews County and graduated from Mathews High School. Athletics played a large role in his younger years, and he once imagined becoming a high school football coach.
His older brother, already studying engineering at Virginia Tech, had other ideas.
“He said, ‘Come on, come to Tech and get an engineering degree.’”
White listened, graduating from Virginia Tech in 1974 with a degree in electrical engineering. From there, he headed to Florida, where he worked for Florida Power & Light. Having grown up around the water, the idea of enjoying it year-round appealed to him, but after three years, he began thinking about raising a family and coming home to Virginia.
In 1977, White accepted an engineering position with Virginia Electric Cooperative in Bowling Green, which later became part of Rappahannock Electric Cooperative. He remained there until 1990 before moving to Richmond to work for Old Dominion Electric Cooperative.
During those years, White’s career expanded beyond engineering. He spent several years leading the statewide cooperative trade association, an experience that pushed him into the “people side” of the business and helped prepare him for leadership.
It was also during those years that his relationship with Carolyn grew. The two had known each other through Rappahannock Electric Cooperative and began dating after both of their previous marriages ended. They dated for eight years before marrying, and Carolyn became an important part of the lives of White’s two sons, whom he had raised as a single father.
In 2005, Northern Neck Electric Cooperative CEO, Charles Rice, approached White about succeeding him. Initially, White and Carolyn decided against it. They had lived in Richmond for 15 years and were comfortable there. But circumstances at work soon caused White to reconsider, something he now sees as one of the “Godwinks” that redirected his path.
“I think I was supposed to come here,” he said.
White became president and CEO of Northern Neck Electric Cooperative in 2005 and remained there until his retirement in 2020.
For White, the cooperative model was always about much more than electricity.
“It’s not just a job,” he said. “You know that you’re helping people with something that is a basic necessity of life.”
When asked what he is most proud of from his 15 years at Northern Neck Electric, White does not point to a particular project or accomplishment. Instead, he points to the people.
“Just watching the employees excel there and serving the membership,” he said.
He describes his own leadership philosophy just as simply.
“A good CEO, I think, is just there to help coordinate and facilitate people making good decisions.”
That commitment to service extended well beyond Northern Neck Electric. White served six years on the Richmond County Family YMCA board, including several years as chairman, and continued helping with fundraising for the YMCA expansion even after leaving the board.
He has also been a longtime member of the Rotary Club of Warsaw, serving twice as president. During his second tenure, he helped the club rebuild after it had temporarily become a satellite of the Tappahannock club, eventually regaining its independent charter.
For White, community involvement has always been part of leadership.
“That’s one of the responsibilities of a leader of any organization,” he said.
When White retired in August 2020, he and Carolyn imagined having more time to travel and enjoy life together. Within months, however, Carolyn was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was caught early and successfully treated, but she later faced a heart valve replacement. At the same time, White was beginning to notice changes in her memory.
She repeated herself. Things appeared in unusual places around the kitchen. She kept multiple calendars and wrote things down to help herself remember.
Eventually came the diagnosis of dementia.
There were still adventures together. They cruised around Iceland and traveled to Hawaii with family and friends, but as Carolyn’s disease progressed, those around them quietly stepped in to help.
White remembers being struck by the kindness of people, including complete strangers.
“The one thing when I was able to get her out, the thing that was heartwarming to see is people wanted to help,” he said. “There’s always people that want to step up.”
Today, Carolyn remains at home, where White hopes to continue caring for her as long as he is able. He is quick to dismiss any suggestion that what he is doing is extraordinary. Carolyn, he says, would have done exactly the same thing for him.
“Except she would do it better.”
White and Carolyn dated for eight years and have now been married for more than 28. For much of that time, they were, as White puts it, “pretty much inseparable.”
And he is grateful they never waited for retirement to enjoy their life together. They traveled, spent time together, and made memories along the way.
“We had a lot of joy,” he said.
It is a statement that seems to capture not only his marriage, but much of White’s life — a life spent caring about the people placed in front of him.
For years, those people were cooperative members, employees, fellow Rotarians, YMCA supporters, and neighbors throughout the Northern Neck. Today, the person who needs him most is the woman beside him.
When asked what he hopes people remember about the way he has lived and served, White’s answer is simple.
“I just hope they remember someone who cared about people in the community.”
And after a lifetime of doing just that, there is little doubt they will.