It’s not often you meet someone that has a tremendous impact on your life personally. Derwin White was one of those people. One who would not just find time, but make time to speak into your life and listen when it was time to listen. That is who Derwin White was. The latter word is hard to say as the reality has not yet set in.
While Derwin and I did not grow up as friends, our families were connected through the small churches we grew up in. We were sure we had met at camp meetings and such like, as we knew all the same people extremely well. I can say I have actually known Derwin since around 2011 when I became the Regional Sales Manager for Quality Culvert. It was not until I moved to Panama City, FL that we became friends. When we did, we figured out our paths had crossed before as our youthful connections were a very small group comprised of only a few thousand in total and less than a thousand in the Florida Panhandle.
When I went to Panama City to manage the Fortiline Water Works Branch, it was under the most tenuous of circumstances and charged with rebuilding a once powerful branch. The first thing I did, once the waters calmed down after a few chaotic weeks, was to contact Derwin. I met with him at his office (the pre-hurricane Michael office). That day, he made me a promise: “Keep your head high, stay the course, and become a part of the community. If you do those things you will succeed here. There is more than enough business to go around.” I will never forget that moment.
I took Darwin’s advice and became an active part of the community. Always attending BCCA Business Meetings, and getting active in the Chamber. Things worked out exactly as he said they would. The branch for all intents and purposes should have folded. Yet it blossomed. Not over night, but over time. I have to believe Derwin had a major hand in that. In fact, I am convinced he did.
After Hurricane Michael, who led the charge to re-build Bay County? Derwin White. When a Category 5 Hurricane pounds you for hour after hour, the devastation and destruction caused are not even able to be imagined. Most of us, especially Floridians, have ridden out many hurricanes. But nothing could prepare any of us for the overwhelming damage everywhere.
That same afternoon Derwin jumped on equipment and started clearing a path to the Emergency Ops Center. It showed who he was at his core. A friend, always ready to help when and where he could. When others saw destruction, he told me he saw opportunity to make us better than before.
When Belinda was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure, one of hardest times of my life, Derwin was there. He told me, “I will fly her to Houston or any where else she may need to go on my plane. And it won’t cost you a dime! We are going to help, just let me know what you need.”
Derwin once told me, “I’m no saint…but when my time comes, I hope they can say I was a good man.” That is the message I have tried to convey here. Derwin White, “A Good Man.” RIP
Wayne Atkinson, Inc. 