Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Ben Tucker Whitaker

Ben Tucker Whitaker, 80, of Roswell, N.M., died Saturday, February 20, 1999, at Eastern New Mexico Medical Center.

Mr. Whitaker was born September 5, 1918, in Oberlin, Allen Parish, La., to Mr. and Mrs. Norman (Sue Tucker) Whitaker, both now deceased. He married the former Kathryn 'Kay' Johnson on January 25, 1943, in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and they shared 56 years together. She survives him at their home.

Ben spent his early years in Camden and Prescott attending college briefly at Henderson state Teachers College in Arkadelphia. He received 'greetings' pre-Pearl Harbor and served his country during World War II for more than four years, achieving the rank of staff sergeant. He was assigned to the quartermaster Corps attached to the U.S. Air Force and was stationed at Luke Field in Tucson, Ariz.

He went to Roswell with the first cadre to establish what was then Roswell Army Air Field and resided in the Old Plaza Hotel and had an office in the basement of City Hall. He was then transferred to Smyrna Air Force Base, Smyrna, Tenn., and later was assigned to Gunnery School at Sioux Falls, S.D., when World War II ended.

Following discharge, he was employed briefly at the Roswell P.O.W. Camp and later joined his father and brother in the Whitaker Co., a wholesale lumber dealership in Prescott. He left the company to pursue a degree under the G.I. Bill of Rights at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, receiving his bachelor's degree in agriculture in tech's animal and plant inspection service. He retired in December 1978 and moved to Roswell in August 1979 to make his home.

Soft-spoken, Ben was a gentle man and always a gentleman. He had a droll sense of humor, which he shared with many friends. He loved his home and gardening was a particularly satisfying hobby. He was of great support and help to both his family and to his in-laws.

He was a member of Charles M. DeBremond Post No. 28 of the American Legion and belonged to First United Methodist Church.

Survivors include his wife, Kay; brother and sister-in-law, Poindexter Dunn and Frances Guthrie Whitaker of Corpus Christi, Texas; brother, Norman Whitaker Jr. of Prescott; sister, Margaret Whitaker Cochran of Royse City, Texas; his brother-in-law, Dr. Samuel G. Johnson and his wife, Jackie; sister-in-law, Kathleen Zukowski; and many nieces and nephews.

Graveside services were Tuesday, February 23, at South Park Cemetery in Roswell under the direction of LaGrone Funeral Chapel.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the American Lung Association, First United Methodist Church or charities of choice.