Darcy White forged a successful career in healthcare, but she had a parallel vocation on the Portland theater scene, serving as a musical director for multiple theaters, often working on two shows at a time. White died on Dec. 4. The cause of death was lung cancer.
White was born and raised in Portland, the youngest of four children. Her family had emigrated to Portland from Canada. Her mother, Freda, was a homemaker and her father, Max, owned a travel agency called Churchill Tours.
Music was paramount in the family. "We were taught that there were three priorities in life: family, church, and music," said White's sister, Cherie Shaver. "We were all told, when we were old enough to understand, that we would take 10 years of music lessons, whether we wanted to or not, so we all learned to play the piano."
White showed an aptitude for piano, starting at the age of 4. "Darcy developed a unique talent for it early on," Shaver said. "She had a good ear. Her hands were larger. She could reach an octave and a half, which made life a little bit easier for her than for the rest of us. But she also had the uncanny ability to sight read almost anything that was put in front of her. And as she got older, the music became more complex. She was able to do things that the rest of us couldn't do."
White attended Ainsworth Elementary and Lincoln High School, where she played piano in the pit orchestra at school musicals.
White was accepted into the music program at University of Washington but, overwhelmed by the size of the school, she dropped out after a few semesters.
She got a job working at Nordstrom, in the lingerie department, while she was figuring out what to do next with her life. She finally decided to become a nurse. She graduated from the nursing program at Linfield University. While in rotation at the school, White decided against become a floor nurse or working in the ob-gyn field. She eventually settled on becoming a psych nurse.
While attending school and beginning her career as a nurse, White continued to play music. "She connected with a church in town, and she was their musical director," Shaver said.
Soon she began working in children's theater. She served as a music director of Oregon Children's Theatre and Northwest Children's Theater and School. White also worked at Stumptown Stages and Broadway Rose Theatre Company, and she was the music director for Lakewood Center for the Arts.
"Music directors are in charge of the music. They coach the kids. They practice with the kids," Shaver said. "They make sure that kids have memorized lyrics. They would make sure that if there were duets, or if there was group singing, that everybody was on key, and everybody's doing what they're supposed to do given the cues. They also distribute the music and set the schedules for practice."
"She was proud of the kids that she met. She watched them go from being nervous to sing on stage to coming off with a huge round of applause. Watching them doing so well and feel so good about themselves, that's really what she wanted for them, to grow their confidence."
"She was distinct in her grace, her fire, her empathy," said her friend and musical theater colleague, Jennifer Goldsmith. "Her goal was to create a safe and creative space. With her background as a psych nurse, she was a very empathetic person. She could read a room more clearly than many, and she was a professional, and wanted to make sure that everyone knew their roles and their parts. It was very fun, exciting, and warm to work with Darcy."
Her experience in musical theater had exposed her to working with children, and after working as a psych nurse for a while, she decided she wanted to work in the adolescent drug and rehab field. "She always had the ability to connect with teenagers," Shaver said. "She saw a lot of stuff that was happening inside their families, inside their lives, and that fueled her want to continue down that path. She had had some difficulty at Ainsworth Elementary with bullying, and I think she recognized that in some of the adolescents, and so could connect with them a little bit better than others."
White eventually got a job at Providence Health Systems, working her way to a position as the senior manager of provider relations and behavioral health network. "She was very concerned about making sure that health care was available to all economic levels, all people, whether they had the ability to pay or not pay. She believed strongly in that," Shaver said.
Shaver put all her energy toward work and theater. "She would get up, go to the gym, go to work, go to rehearsal, come home, go to bed, and start all over again the next day. She was doing a full time job plus two shows at the same time, so she really didn't leave herself a lot of room for anything other than that," Shaver said.
White will be remembered for her warmth and sense of humor. "She was one of those people that walked in a room and people just swarmed to her. It could be a room full of strangers, but before the end of the evening, she was talking with them like they were old friends, usually laughing," Shaver said. "When she talked to you, she made you feel like you were the most important person."
Darcy is survived by her sisters, Cherie Shaver and Sam Earle; her brother, Craig White; and many nieces and nephews. Her memorial service will take place on Jan. 27 at Broadway Rose Theatre.