Courage of One Woman

Strong women come from many different circumstances either in childhood or adulthood and backgrounds from all over the world. I was fortunate to meet one such woman in Idaho and had the opportunity to interview on a visit back west.

Debbie White was born in the Mojave Desert town of Lancaster, California in 1956, the youngest child of four with two older sisters and a brother. Ms. White was extremely close to her father, adored him as he did her. "I believe he wanted another boy, but I was enough of a tomboy to pass for one. He took the four of us kids fishing, boating, camping, hunting and we traveled a great deal and he even taught us how to fly at an earl age." Ira White was a pilot for Lockheed Aircraft. "I was seven when my dad crashed his private plane and died in my mother's arms." Ms. White's life drastically changed for the worse. "Mom had to go to work and was never home. My older sister got married and my brother ran away. My sister and I had to fend for ourselves although I spent a lot of time at a friend's house. As it turned out being over at my friend's wasn't a good idea and steered me into the dark side of life to escape." The friend's mother had an open invitation to truckers, who visited quite frequently and didn't care if the young girls were around or not. "One particular evening I awoke with a trucker, a huge fat bastard on top of me with his filthy hand over my mouth while he raped me and told me to never tell a living soul or hr would kill me." She was nine-years-old and remembered he always carried a gun and showed it off. "I was so afraid for me and my friend, but it was a matter of survival and never went back there."