Essie Sophia Larsen White was born in 1905 to early Moab settlers George Amasa and Julia Larsen. Essie White was a horsewoman who loved riding, racing, and ranching, and especially her job as telephone operator for the Midland Telephone Company. She married George White and raised their family and livestock on an expansive ranch upriver from Moab. Eventually, the White Ranch became a prime location for filming Hollywood Westerns and the Whites helped start the Moab to Monument Valley Film Commission (the world’s first). Today their ranch is known as Red Cliffs Lodge and houses the Moab Museum of Film and Western Heritage.