Port Royal salon owner who died Friday remembered for work ethic, love for daughters

A Port Royal business owner was remembered Friday for her engaging personality and passion for her career and family.

Jennifer Youmans-White, who owned Sweet Tea Salon on Paris Avenue, died Friday morning after complications from a liver transplant. He daughter, Tabatha White, shared the news in a public Facebook post.

“I missed her before she ever even left and I’ll miss her every day for the rest of my life,” Tabatha White wrote in her post. “I appreciate all the kind words, prayers, and thoughts — they are much needed at this time.”

Youmans-White built a large and loyal clientele at her salon, said Jordan Posey, a former stylist at the salon who also worked with Youmans-White doing hair and makeup for special events at Bride’s Side Beauty.

She worked hard at her business so she could provide for her three daughters and allow them experiences such as foreign travel, Posey said. The salon was a place Youmans-White could engage visitors with her well-known wit and sass, including honest helpings of tough love.

“Jennifer touched every single person that she came in contact with,” Posey said. “And it seems like even a person she may have met at a gas station or someone she worked with for years seems to have the same opinion of her — that she made them feel special and that they had known each other for years.”

While fighting the disease, Youmans-White tried to ensure that her daughters stayed occupied and didn’t worry, with Tabatha running the salon, Posey said.

Youmans-White was diagnosed with primary biliary cholangitis, a chronic liver disease, two years ago, according to a GoFundMe page established to help pay her medical expenses. After less than a year, blood work showed the disease was an aggressive form and would require an imminent transplant, the page said.

She received the transplant earlier this year, but the new liver failed in late June, according to her daughter’s updates.

Youmans-White was a tennis player with a competitive spirit whose death was shocking, Posey said.

Friends flooded social media with memories and messages of support.

The online fundraising page to help pay her medical costs had raised more than $18,000 Friday. Friends and fellow business owners had also raised money recently through promotions and a yard sale.

In a post on the page nine months ago, Youmans-White advocated for people to become organ donors.

“You can’t take them with you and so many people die every day waiting for them,” she wrote.

This story was originally published July 13, 2018 at 3:46 PM.