Who was Ellen G. White?
White Memorial Medical Center’s passion for community healthcare is fueled by the legacy of the hospital’s namesake, Ellen G. White. A central figure of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Ellen White is remembered as a charismatic pioneer of health reform at the turn of the 20th century. White’s early life provided no hint of her eventual rise to prominence. She and her twin sister, Elizabeth, were born to Robert and Eunice Harmon on November 26, 1827. The family, including eight children, lived on a small farm in rural Maine until they moved to the city of Portland, Maine, a few years after the twins’ birth. A severe injury from a rock thrown by a child when White was nine years old nearly ended her life. But she recovered after lying unconscious for three weeks. As she continued to grow toward adulthood, White began to sense a strong calling of God on her life. It was during this time that she and her family joined the fledgling Adventist movement. In August 1846, Ellen married James
