Born on the island of Montserrat to James White and Priscilla Irish. At twelve she moved to St Croix in the United States Virgin Islands, which she called home ever after, and she finished at St Croix Central High School in 1982. She read for a time at Bennett College in North Carolina and enlisted in the Army in July of 1985 on the Army College Fund, taking a bachelor's degree in computer information technology from Strayer University while she served.

She trained at Fort Jackson as an administrative specialist and served two overseas tours, at Frankfurt and at Camp Casey in Korea, then Chicago and Alexandria. Her last posting was to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Programs at the Pentagon.

Her daughter Vielka was born on 13 February 1995 and was, those who knew them said, her whole life - a daughter and a best friend and a playmate at once.

She ran, she read, she bowled. She is remembered as strong, determined, independent and unfailingly generous with everyone she met.