May 13, 2007

Housewife discovers freedom in businessBy Tracy S. JacobsNews.RGJ.com

Elma Karam de White, owner of the Delta Gift Shop in Virginia City, was born in Texas to a Lebanese father and Mexican mother.

She had a close-knit family with an authoritarian father, just as cultural history dictated it should be, she said.

White graduated from high school in Texas, moved to Mexico and graduated from college. She eventually became a wife and mother and enjoyed get-togethers with extended family.

Still, something was always missing in her life.

“I was a housewife and raised my girls in Mexico,” White said. “They went to private school, and everything was bilingual. Our parrot was bilingual, our housekeepers were bilingual. I never worked a day in my life.”

Her job was to be a good wife and a good mother, she said.

Then school chums from the University of the Americas offered her a business. They were ready to retire and wondered if White would like to move to Virginia City.

“Married for 28 years and Elma discovers the working world,” White said. “My girls at this point had graduated, so I said, ‘Why not? I’m going to give it a shot.'”

She left her husband, moved to the former mining town and took over the Delta Gift Shop.

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