Mayor Kevin H. White fended off a strong challenge by State Senator Joseph F. Timility to gain a third consecutive term as mayor of Boston yesterday. A significantly strong voter turnout of 64 per cent returned White to City Hall by almost a five percentage point margin.

There were two major upsets in the City Council and School Committee races, as council president Gerald F. O'Leary and committeeman Paul F. Ellison were defeated in their bid for reelection.

Former school committeeman John J. Kerrigan was the only newcomer elected to the council ousting the incumbent O'Leary to grab the seventh seat on the nine-member council.

A major shakeup occured in the five-member school committee, as moderate David I. Finnegan took the seat vacated by Kerrigan and Elvira "Pixie" Palladino, an East Boston anti-busing leader, beat out anti-busing incumbent Paul J. Ellison.

Charges and Countercharges

Charges and countercharges of corruption from both camps played a significant role in the mayoral race. Timility's charges of corruption in the White administration, which have dominated the campaign since the September primary, figured strongly in White's narrow margin of victory. White beat Timilty by a 12-per-cent margin in September.

Neither of the candidates mentioned the corruption charges in his speech last night. Only White made an allusion to busing, the predominant issue in the city.

"Over the past two years, this city has suffered great tension and great trauma which have brought about great change," White said. "Few cities in this country have faced such trial but tonight in this city we have passed the test."

White's traditional support came from the liberal communities of Back Bay and Beacon Hill, the black community off Roxbury, and from East Boston, while Timility showed strength in the anti-busing neighborhoods of South Boston, Hyde Park and Dorchester.

Staunch busing opponents also suffered a setback in the school committee race, as the emphasis on quality education overshadowed anti-busing as an issue.

Top vote getter Kathleen Sullivan swept her way to another term on the school committee and joined fellow moderates Paul R. Tierney and Finnegan to give the committee a moderate majority.

School committee chairman John J. McDonough was elected to his sixth term, finishing second, but Ellison, facing charges of alleged misuse of school department funds and hampered by a broken leg, was unable to ward off the challenge of Palladino, an outspoken busing foe.

Sullivan said last night that the new school committee will spend less time fighting busing and more time developing programs.

In the council race, O'Leary dropped from a sixth-place showing in the primary to eleventh place last night. O'Leary seemed to have simply been out-campaigned in the last two months by incumbents James Michael Connolly and Patrick F. McDonough, both of whom had finished out of the top nine spots in the September primary.

Lawrence S. DiCara '71 was successful in his bid for a third term on the council, finishing fifth. Louise Day Hicks was the top vote-getter among council candidates