Kenneth White Jr. Passes

[Jim McCulloch]

I have just learned that Kenneth White jr. passed away at the age of 87. His family played a major part in the hobby of metal detecting. 

[Gerry in Idaho]

So sorry to hear of his passing and prayers for his family.

[Chase Goldman]

More information about his passing in January of this year and forum member remembrances are contained in this thread, if interested.

 

[Chet]

I never met Kenny but I know he continued in his father’s shoes and provided good service to his customers. I wish his family the best of life without him.

I met Mr. White Sr. a few times. He valued his customers and treated them well. I was raised in Oregon in the 1950’s and 60's so I visited the factory and sales office a few times. On one occasion a man and wife came in with an early Gold Master Mineral Metal detector. They explained that they were on vacation headed for Eastern Oregon to hunt for gold. But the detector was unstable and required constant retuning. Mr White called his technician from the back room. They turned the detector on and the PUT-PUT-PUT sound that these early Beat Frequency Oscillator detectors emitted quickly sped up into a low frequency tone. The technician said he would have it fixed in a few minutes as he disappeared into the back room. When he returned he turned it on and the PUT-PUT-PUT sound was as steady as a clock pendulum. He waved a few coins over it and had the customer test it out in the display room sand box. The customer asks what he did to fix it. He had replaced one of the oscillator vacuum tubes and put in 3 new batteries. Mr White gave him a spare set of batteries and said there was no charge and wished them well on their vacation. I have owned many Whites detectors over the years knowing that they were backed up by a great man, his son and his company’s reputation. Relating these memories of him brings out warm and caring feelings of those early days and other people like him that shaped my life.

Attached is a photo of that model detector. It is 14”x4”x5” with 12” coil and weighs 6 pounds.