In loving memory of Jenny White
27 August 1933 – 23 December 2008
How sad we all were to hear of the passing of Jenny White of Johannesburg, South Africa on 23 December 2008 after complications set in after a routine gall bladder operation.

Jenny belonged to the Thimble Collectors Club of South Africa and attended the very first meeting of the club in 1984. The club’s February – March 2009 newsletter was dedicated to Jenny White by our chairlady, Jenny Bockel.

Nearly all of the Thimble Collectors Club members attended Jenny’s memorial service at St Andrew’s Anglican Church in Kensington, Johannesburg. The memorial service was led by Reverend Kathy Barrable. Rev Kathy’s sermon was all thimble related and it was the first time that any of us had ever heard a memorial service based on the thimble. Jenny would have thought that the sermon was so apt and all part of her passion for thimbles right up to the end of her life’s journey. When Rev Kathy went to visit Dennis (Jenny’s husband) after her passing, she was inspired by Jenny’s thimble collection and wove her sermon around the thimble.

Rev Kathy spoke of the rosewood that God created and how he allowed people to use it for both function (creating thimbles) and beauty. Rev Kathy referred to Jenny as ‘God’s nimble thimble’. This was truly apt as Jenny was a ‘doer’ and was always doing kind & thoughtful things for others. A good example was how kind Jenny was to our new daughter, Cheyenne who we adopted a year ago after the death of both her parents within 10 months of each other (my brother and his wife). Jenny truly understood what Cheyenne was going through and counselled her and told her of her own difficult years while she was growing up. In spite of the difficulties that she faced during her life, Jenny remained positive and an inspiration to all of us.

Jenny started a tradition at our club’s Christmas meeting and she always had a ‘thimble or sewing’ related gift for all our members. It is hard to believe that we have received our last gift from Jenny but we will all treasure all the gifts we got from her over the years especially the last one (a pouch made of thimble printed material and embroidered with a miniature sewing machine) that she gave us at our Christmas 2008 meeting.

Jenny Bockel was one of the speakers at the memorial service and spoke very movingly of Jenny White’s long association with the Thimble Collectors Club of South Africa and of her very long friendship with Jenny.

Our hearts go out to Dennis White and I quote from an e-mail that Dennis sent to me ‘Jenny was loved by all of us not least of all by me’.

I did not know Jenny White but this is a awesome tribute to her and a wonderful way for her friends and fellow thimble collectors to remember her