Gracie White

Mrs. Gracie “Peggy Best” White of New Haven, CT age 84, passed away on April 30, 2023, two weeks after celebrating her 84 ^th birthday.  She was born to the late Thomas Best and Gussie Darden of North Carolina.  Gracie attended Pitts County High School in Pitts County North Carolina; she was a basketball standout.  She would later become a farmer during the Jim Crow era.  Gracie was a singer and loved to sing gospel songs, part of her past times.  Her charismatic ways, she connected with almost everyone she encountered.

During her younger years, one of her favorite sayings, she told everybody was, “Just Do The Best You Can.”  Gracie was a Farmer, and after that she left the fields doing farm work, i.e., picking cotton, greens, corn, and tobacco; depending on the season, she migrated to Brooklyn, NY with her late husband Richard White.  The two separated when the children were very young.  Mrs. White then left New York, she migrated to Connecticut with her 5 children.

Gracie moved to Ashmun St. Projects where she immediately blended in with some of the other single mothers.  She immediately put an impact on a community that needed a spark.  Gracie loved playing cards, she was a vivid pitty-pat player and would always win, taking everyone’s money at the end of the day. Her pastime was fishing, she loved to go to the lake and fish, later returning with buckets of fish and her partners would return with one or two fish.  She was a real pro, equated to her snuff she put on her bait as the magic to catching fish.  Gracie had 5 children to care for and loved children so much, she took in 5 more children when their mother passed, while we lived in a three-bedroom apartment.  She cared for those 5 children without social services assistance. After raising her 5 children, and the 5 children she took in; she began raising some of her grandchildren and even assisted with some of her great grandchildren. A Pillar in the community, If she saw you doing something wrong, she’d correct you and then tell your parents that she yelled at you or hit you. Gracie was a vital part of the village.

Gracie would eventually battle with “mother time,” which forced her to give up her fishing poles and decided to find another passion; “Foxwoods & Mohegan Sun Casinos!” She would stay overnight as she had a lucky streak, hitting one machine to the next. Gracie would come home to tell her children how much she won, each time.  She had a couple of casino buddies she’d take with her, who were witnesses to her winning.  Mom had hands, because if you ever crossed her, she’d tell you, “I’ll give you a couple of these.” Mrs. Gracie “Peggy Best” White, you are, A true matriarch!

Gracie is survived by her four children. Richard (Dean), Larry (Dorinda), Carlton (Cindy); and Sheila White.  She also is loved by two of her late husband’s children, Rickie White and Teddy White (Sebrina), her special nephews Dwyane “Gump” Branch, and her surrogate son, Micheal “Nino” Maybank!  Gracie has three sisters, Carrie Dyer, Maryann Ogman and Bonnie Best; Two sister in laws, Gerlean and Emma White; one brother-in-law, Danny White, with a host of grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great great grandchildren and a host of nieces and nephews, with her favorite Angel Yummy Hubbard.

Gracie was predeceased by both parents, Mr. Thomas Best and Mrs. Gussie Darden, her in laws, Mr. Leroy and Mrs. Dorothy White, by one brother Jay Best and two brother in laws, Johnny White and Leroy White Jr., two sisters in laws Mary Staton, and Ermadean White, one son Curtis White and two daughters Faye White and Deborah White and her three Granddaughters, Chanel Highsmith, Titisha White, Laketa Williams!

A wake will be held on Friday May 5, 2023 at Colonial Funerals, 86 Circular Avenue, Hamden from 6-8pm. A celebration of Gracie’s life will be held on Saturday May 6, 2023 at Trinity Temple, 285 Dixwell Avenue at 8am. Interment to follow at Evergreen Cemetery. Condolences may be expressed at Colonialfunerals.com.