Carlene White
Carlene White,
a woman who lived life unfiltered and unbridled, has died after a spectacular
89-year adventure on This earth.
1937-2026
Carlene didn’t strive to be different; she simply was. Born into an era when women were expected to be homemakers, she went to college and became a mathematician.
She refused to learn to type, for fear someone would make her a secretary. When her husband complained that they went out to dinner too often, she dragged the kitchen stove to the end of the driveway and slapped a “Free” sign on it. When others arrived at the Myopia Hunt Club driving four-in-hand teams of imported carriage horses, Carlene showed up with a hitch of eight miniature donkeys pulling a fancy custom
carriage. Only the front two donkeys had reins, which made perfect sense, since only the front two had ever been trained to drive. The other six simply followed along.
In the 1970’s, while other mothers went trick-or-treating, Carlene was in the hayloft arranging bales into a haunted maze, complete with a two-story slide that sent children out the end into a pile of straw. While other children went off to summer camp, hers, along with half the neighborhood, were put to work creating a circus. Each
summer the children put on clown costumes and performed with the farm animals in a one-ring show that became the highlight of the town of Lynnfield, Massachusetts, raising thousands of dollars for a medical ship in Africa.
In the 1980s, Carlene founded Animal Episodes, which provided animals for film, television and advertising productions. It was the perfect channel for her superpowers: animals, chaos, challenges and creativity. For one Christmas print ad in 1984, Santa’s sleigh was to be pulled by eight pigs instead of reindeer. Today, it would be a simple job for AI. Carlene carefully herded eight medium-sized pigs into a Boston studio, along with eight high school students, each armed with a spray bottle of water and maple syrup. As long as the students sprayed the mixture into the pigs’ mouths, the pigs stood perfectly still. When the spraying stopped, the students ducked below the platform, and the pigs held still just long enough for the photographer to get the shot.
Around the same time, Carlene was asked to bring donkeys to a Democratic National Committee gala in Boston. She brought six. In the elevator, she tied a brightly colored helium balloon to each halter, and when the doors opened, she set the donkeys loose in the ballroom to mingle among guests in tuxedos and ball gowns. She could look across the room and know exactly where every donkey was, and when the balloons began drifting toward the buffet, it was time to chase the donkeys back to the bar. There were countless other stories from those years, far too many to tell here.
Carlene had polio as a child, which left her with severe scoliosis. When she turned 65, it began to seriously affect her mobility. She decided the answer to her imbalance and falls was lying on a dog bed in front of a roaring fire: Zeus, her 160-pound Great Dane. She put a horse halter on him, grabbed hold for balance, and set off on a new adventure at the young age of 65.
When most people her age were retiring to golf and an early cocktail hour, Carlene was gearing up for what she believed would be the grand finale of her life. She founded the Service Dog Project.
No one in this country had ever attempted to train Great Danes as mobility service dogs. It had never occurred to anyone that their size, quiet demeanor and loyalty could free people from the confines of walkers, canes and wheelchairs, letting them walk again holding the handle of a Great Dane. The many skeptics who doubted her vision only fueled her determination. She worked seven days a week without a salary, gave generously of her own money, and turned a bold idea into an unprecedented success. She changed thousands of lives: the recipients who gained independence, the volunteers who found purpose, and the employees who learned what dedication really looks like. The pinnacle of her tenure as president came in 2015, when George, a dog she trained, was named Service Dog of the Year in America.
However, in a shocking turn of events, the board of directors decided to remove Carlene as President. After 25 years as President, and at the age of 83, she was voted out of the organization she had built. Being discarded was a devastating blow, and it became even more devastating when SDP’s new management filed a lawsuit against her for defamation of character. For the last three years of her life, that legal battle took a heavy financial and emotional toll.
Most people would have given up. But Carlene was wired differently. Instead of surrendering to her physical limitations, the ongoing lawsuit and her advanced age, she went onward and upward. As president of SDP, she had visited local nursing homes with her Great Danes every week for 20 years, and she had seen what those visits meant to the residents. When SDP’s new management stopped allowing her to visit the nursing homes, they forgot that Carlene never let the word “no” squash a good thing. She rallied the troops, started Goldy’s Farm, and made it clear that failure was not an option.
Carlene brought the same fire and enthusiasm to Goldy’s Farm, now a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit that brings therapy animals to nursing homes, hospitals and facilities for people with disabilities. Like everything Carlene did, Goldy’s Farm is GRAND. The therapy animals include not only Great Danes but also miniature horses, donkeys, cows, goats, chickens, a turkey and a pig. There’s nothing quite like watching Sally the turkey being wheeled into a nursing home in her princess carriage. She gets quite talkative (gobble-y) when she meets the seniors. (More photos at www.GoldysFarm.com.)
Over the past three years, Goldy’s Farm has visited more than 200 facilities, reaching more than 7,000 people each year. Nursing homes livestream the farm animals on smart TVs in residents’ rooms and activity rooms, and many bring busloads of seniors to visit the farm, where Carlene and Larky (Great Dane Service Dog), greeted them from the golf cart.
Goldy’s Farm became Carlene’s true grand finale.
Carlene inspired everything she touched: fully, fiercely and on her own terms. She was not afraid of difficult challenges, and she was never afraid to tell people what they needed to hear. So keen was her insight into human and animal nature that she was known by her nieces and nephews to conduct boyfriend/girlfriend training & testing. Any and all new romantic candidates from the extended families were invited for a weekend visit to the farm in Ipswich where they would be assessed under the acute scrutiny of taskmaster "Aunt Carlene." Candidates were measured on physical strength, creative thinking and a clever sense of humor. The testing was rigorous. It is no surprise that she approved only a few and in fact, only those relationships that were awarded her approval are still intact today!
She noticed what others overlooked, especially people the world had underserved, and she had a gift for helping others find perspective and purpose. Her mind never stopped. Ideas, plans and opinions came to her constantly, and she pursued them with a focus that could move mountains.
She was ornery, brilliant, generous and unforgettable. Her abrasive honesty made her some enemies over the years, but even they would admit their lives were enriched by Carlene White. She was a force for good to the very end and will be missed by all who knew her.
Carlene was predeceased in 2012 by her husband, Dr. Tom White, a prominent Massachusetts physician. She is survived by her daughters, Gwen Kreager and Janine Jacques; her grandson, Colby Jacques, sister Fran Smith, many neices, newphew and friends; and of course her service dog, Larky.
A memorial celebration will be held at Goldy's Farm on November 22cd from 1-3pm. A full celebration of Carlene's life will be scheduled in June.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial gifts be made only to Goldy’s Farm, the cause Carlene championed with all her heart in her final years:
