Warrenville 2024 Cemetery Walk: Richard T. "Dick" White, Sr.

During our winter closed period we are sharing the stories told during our 2024 Warrenville Cemetery Walk. We hope you enjoy reading about the people who helped shape Warrenville history. At our fourth stop, Cemetery Walk attendees got to learn a little bit about another Warrenville artist who helped to save the Albright Building.

We cannot tell the story of the Albright Building without telling the story of the Albright Foundation and another important Warrenville artist. After Adam Emory Albright died in 1957 and his twin sons were too famous to work in the old Albright Studio on Second Street, the building fell into great disrepair. A group of citizens came forward in 1967 to save the building and formed the Adam Emory Albright Memorial Foundation. After securing ownership of the building from Malvin Albright they set out to fulfill the goal of turning the building into a cultural center; one of their members was an artist himself who also greatly contributed to our community.

Richard “Dick” White was born on July 31, 1925, in Oak Park, Illinois. Dick grew up in Oak Park, Chicago and Winona Lake, Indiana. As a youth Dick was a member of the acclaimed Paulist choir directed by Rev. Eugene F. O`Malley and based at Old St. Mary`s Catholic Church at 9th Street and Wabash Avenue in Chicago. On June 3, 1944, he married Dolores Childs and the couple moved to Warrenville in 1954 where they raised their five children, Marion, Richard Jr., Mike, Elizabeth, and Virginia.

Dick studied fine arts at the Chicago Art Institute. He began his career in Public Relations at Western Electric in Cicero, Illinois, and at the International Harvester plant near Kedzie Avenue in Chicago. A skilled lithographer, he later owned and operated White Graphics in Warrenville for many years.

Dick and his wife, Dolores volunteered for many years at the DuPage Senior Citizen Council and were members of St. Irene Catholic Church here in Warrenville. Dick was also inspired by Warrenville and created many oil and watercolor paintings that are still featured in town today, including the cover art for Leone Schmidt’s last history of Warrenville book. He also helped her design the book jackets for her other books.

Much of Dick’s work in the community centered around the arts and preserving Warrenville’s connection to the famous Albright artists. As part of the Albright Foundation Dick helped the Albright Building secure the designation by the Department of the Interior as a Historic Building which was recorded in the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

Albright Foundation President Dick White photographed with other members of the Albright Foundation, Eugene Gunnlaugsson, John Hudetz, and Arnold Giedraitis in 1971 in front of the Albright Building

In 1971 Dick worked with then aldermen John Hudetz to provide space in the old Albright Studio to a local theater group. This partnership would lead to the birth of the Albright Theater which started in the Albright Building and still exists almost 50 years later in Batavia.  The Albright Foundation worked hard to preserve the historic building and in 1981 the City of Warrenville purchased the Albright Studio and completed the renovation. The Museum opened in the building three years later.

Dick White’s painting of Adam Albright

Dick’s artistic talents are rightfully on display at the Warrenville Museum in the very building he helped to save and bring renewed life in to. His generosity also lives on in his children who contribute greatly to the Historical Society’s work and the overall community of Warrenville to this day.

Dick passed away at the age of 94 in November of 2019 and was laid to rest at Assumption Cemetery in Wheaton.

Dick’s work as featured in the Warrenville Park District’s Art on the Prairie showcase