Jill White

White was born in Feilding in 1941. She attended Manchester Street Primary School and Feilding Agricultural High School before attending Victoria University of Wellington where she gained a Bachelor of Science and then Canterbury Teachers' College.^[2] She later completed a Master of Arts at Massey University.^[3]

She first worked as a secondary school teacher in New Zealand from 1965, and later Samoa via Volunteer Service Abroad, before becoming a nurse in 1972. White also worked in the United Kingdom as a nurse before returning to New Zealand in 1979 where she became a community and public nurse before retiring in 1988.^[2]

White was a councillor on Palmerston North City Council from 1983 to 1992. This was followed by some years in Parliament, a role from which she resigned in 1998 to become Mayor of Palmerston North. She held that post until 2001.^[4][5][6] She was the first woman to hold the position. In 1989, she was elected a member of the Manawatu-Wanganui Regional Council, remaining a member until 1994 when she resigned.^[2] She was later a Horizons Regional Councillor from 2007 until 2013.

White's community involvement was with the Girl Guides, District Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse and the National Council of Women.^[2]

In the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours, White was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to local-body and community affairs.^[7]

From 1993 to 1998, she was a member of Parliament for the Labour Party, first as MP for Manawatu and then as a list MP.^[8] In 1996, she had stood in Rangitīkei unsuccessfully.^[9]