Marion Jewett White, 84, Was Tide Book Publisher

Marion Jewett White, publisher of the Eldridge Tide and Pilot Book, which is known to many East Coast sailors as the "mariner's Bible," died on Wednesday, August 4. She was 84.

Mrs. White, known to all as Molly, became Publisher of Eldridge after the death of her husband, Robert Eldridge White, in 1990. The popular almanac for East Coast mariners has been in the Eldridge and White families since it first appeared in 1875.

Born in Buffalo in 1920, the daughter of Edgar B. Jewett II and Helen Barnard Jewett, she grew up on the family's farm outside the city. Her greatgrandfather, Edgar B. Jewett, was a Civil War veteran and mayor of Buffalo.

After graduating in 1941 from Wellesley College, she married Robert Eldridge White in 1942. At the end of the war they lived for several years in Waban before moving to Lincoln, where they raised three sons. She had lived in the same house for 52 years.

An avid reader, crossword puzzle aficionado, bridge player and gardener, Mrs. White enjoyed annual summer vacations at Lake Tashmoo on the Vineyard, where a favorite activity was clamming. She was active in Wellesley Class of 1941 affairs, including the class book club.

She possessed a natural talent for organization, a keen verbal ability and a sharp eye for irregularities. These qualities were put to good use when Robert White founded Robert E. White Instruments Inc. in 1961. Mrs. White played a significant role behind the scenes in helping her husband launch his business. The broad exposure she received to all aspects of boating and nautical instruments, through her husband and his business, equipped her well for her roles with Eldridge.

Beginning as editor in 1974, with the book's 100th annual edition, she began a reorganization of the book, cultivated new advertisers and revised articles to keep up with improvements in electronic navigation. When Robert Eldridge White died in 1990, she made a natural transition from editor to Publisher.

Since 1990, Mrs. White continued to make changes in Eldridge, relying increasingly on family, as her predecessors had, to become involved and assume a greater role. Despite declining mobility in her final years, she supervised every aspect of the book's preparation. When it was time to go to press in the fall, there was as great a sense of satisfaction for her and her helpers as if the harvest had finally been brought in.

Mrs. White leaves two sons, Robert E. Jr. of Medfield, and Edgar J. of Decatur, Ga.; a third son, Bruce B., died in 2002; a sister, Janice Jewett, of Buffalo, N.Y., five grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.

A memorial service is planned for Saturday, Sept. 25, at 11 a.m. at the First Parish Church, Lincoln. Arrangements are by MacRae-Tunnicliffe Funeral Home, Concord.