Melissa Ashley Evans White Obituary

Melissa Ashley Evans White of Greenville, South Carolina, born August 26, 1976, in Columbus, Ohio, went to fight alongside the heavenly armies on August 15, 2025. She was daughter to the extraordinary Mary Elizabeth Ward Evans, wife of twenty-six years to the ever-awestruck Benjamin Lee White, and mother to the joy of her life, Lucas James Kinnunen White. Melissa was a graduate of E.C. Glass High School in Lynchburg, VA and Campbell University in Buies Creek, NC. It was at Campbell that she met Ben in a religion course. She was six months older, but a whole year smarter, or at least that's what she liked to claim. After marrying on May 1, 1999, she and Ben packed up their lives and moved to Massachusetts, where she first began working for the YMCA. Once they returned to Raleigh, North Carolina in 2001, she quickly found a home at the Central (eventually Alexander Family) YMCA on Hillsborough Street where she would spend the next decade of her professional life, rising up through the ranks of youth programming. Having lost her mother two months after she married Ben, the staff at the Central YMCA and the larger YMCA of the Triangle became her family. In 2011, after having supported Ben while he completed umpteen academic degrees, they moved to Greenville, South Carolina for Ben to take a professorial position at Clemson University. Melissa started at the YMCA of Greenville, but eventually found her groove again at Miracle Hill Ministries, where she was Manager of Organizational Advancement (i.e. – the fun side of Human Relations). She could train or coach anyone through anything. Melissa was always thinking, "how can we make this better?" In 2018, she exchanged paychecks for full-time mothering. Lucas was the object of her most tender affections and the two of them were quite the pair. Melissa's favorite Scripture was Micah 6:8: "He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" A member of Grace Church, her faith was lived out in love of neighbor. She fought tooth and nail for those she loved. Melissa was an advocate for those in need. She believed that the world should be a just place and that we all have a role in making that happen. Those who knew her were struck by her beautiful blue eyes, her amazing laugh, her sense of humor (which definitely improved over time), and her penchant for giving great gifts. She was an amazing listener and a keen observer of what other people liked and needed; she expressed her love for others by paying attention. Melissa was predeceased by her mother, Elizabeth. Several of her beloved furry friends-Emerson, Harper, and Finnegan-also exited this life before her. She is survived, sorely missed, and remembered by her husband, Ben, and son, Lucas (with fiancée Brynne Van Allsburg), both of Greenville, South Carolina, as well as her father- and mother-in law, Lester and Marlene White of Wake Forest, North Carolina, her sister- and brother-in-law, Leslyn and Josh Benfield of Durham, North Carolina, her favorite (and only!) nephew and niece, Titus and Eden Benfield of Durham, North Carolina, Lucas' brother and sister-in-law, Crosse and Abigail Kinnunen of Taylors, South Carolina, and two half-siblings, Jessica and Joshua Sullivan of Friendswood, Texas. She will perhaps be missed most by Hugo, the family's most recent furry addition. The family is presently making plans for a Celebration of Life service, which will likely occur in late September or early October, and encourages you to continue to stay in touch for additional details as they emerge. In the meantime, please be thinking of your best Melissa stories to share, as the service will be a tribute to all of the lives she has touched. We would love for you to come mourn, laugh, and celebrate with us. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in her memory to: 1) the Lakeside Chautauqua Foundation, 236 Walnut Ave., Lakeside, OH 43440 (https://community.lakesideohio.com/giving/), where she grew up vacationing with her mother and where she will be scattered in the same place on Lake Erie that she scattered her mother years ago; or 2) the Alexander Family YMCA in Raleigh, NC (Alexander YMCA Donations). Please make sure her name goes in the comment box/line in either case. "Almighty God, our Father in heaven, before whom live all who die in the Lord: Receive our sister Melissa into the courts of your heavenly dwelling place. Let her heart and soul now ring out in joy to you, O Lord, the living God, and the God of those who live. This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen." (The Book of Common Prayer, 1979) Friends are encouraged to share their favorite memories of Melissa with the family by clicking on the button labeled "Share A Memory."