Owen P. White

Owen Payne White, writer and editor, second son of Alward and Katherine J. (Payne) White, was born at El Paso on June 9, 1879. White graduated from El Paso High School on May 27, 1896, briefly attended the University of Texas at Austin in 1898, and returned to El Paso within a few months. He studied law at New York University but never graduated. During World War I White achieved the rank of sergeant serving in a medical unit. On January 22, 1920, White married Hazel Harvey and the same year went to work as a columnist for the El Paso Herald. The publication of his first book, Out of the Desert, in 1923 brought him to the attention of H. L. Mencken, editor of the American Mercury. The book, a local history of El Paso, was also favorably reviewed in the New York Times.

Area: Central / El Paso High