1914 – APRIL 24, 2007
Williams Starkey Whitney of Newtown died Tuesday, April 24, 2007, at St. Mary’s Medical Center, Langhorne. He was 92.
Born in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1914, Mr. Whitney was raised in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. He treasured his years spent at his alma maters, the Hotchkiss School and Yale University where he was in the Class of 1937.
A. U.S. Navy veteran of World War II. He was the captain of PT boat 174 in the Solomon Islands and served on the destroyer escort USS Tillman.
After the war, he moved to Essex, Connecticut and joined the Stanley works as an executive for 25 years, working in the United States and Canada, and was the executive vice president for Graber Manufacturing Company in Middletown, Wisconsin for 10 years before returning to Essex in 1976.
Mr. Whitney was an active participant in the Essex community, where he served on the elementary school district’s board of education, the zoning board, and the Republican town committee.
He was a member of the Essex Yacht Club and attended Our Lady of Sorrows Church, where he was the parish treasurer.
He was a member of Peter Terre, the PT boat veterans association. An avid reader, he also loved teaching, sailing, skiing, woodworking and traveling.
A devoted husband and family man. He led by example and was an anchor to windward for family and friends alike.
He was preceded in death by his wife and best friend of 62 years. Millicent Ellsworth Whitney who died on February 3, 2007, and his great grandson Jason Timothy Whitney.
Bill was the son of the late Larned Starkey Whitney and Helen Tobin Whitney of Frankfurt, New York.
He is survived by his children. Larned Starkey Whitney III of Benecia, California, Robert Aylsworth Whitney of New Hope, Timothy Tobin Whitney of Flagstaff, Arizona, and Anne Whitney Yarnell of New Hope; and his six grandchildren.
A joint memorial service for Bill and Millie will be held at 3:00 p.m. Saturday, June 2nd at St. John’s Episcopal Church main Street, Essex, Connecticut.