Palm Beach Post:
His childhood: One of four children, he and his brother were given up by his mother to be raised in a Savannah, Ga., orphanage, The Bethesda Orphans Home for Boys. He would eventually buy the house next-door to his on South L Street for his mother.
His career: He ran a plumbing business with first wife Margaret, who was the bookkeeper. A well-known social climber, Whitman was elected to the Democratic Party's county executive committee. Pallbearers at his son and wife's funeral included some of Lake Worth's most prominent politicians. In his later years, Whitman got into well drilling. He bought a 5-acre nursery in what was then rural Boynton Beach, where he built a house. Diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1989 and Alzheimer's in 1995, he died in a Boynton nursing home in 2001.
His second wife: Ellen Ward, 23, was divorced, pregnant and had a 3-year-old son when her parents persuaded her to marry Whitman, 47, in November 1966. They divorced in April 1967.
His third wife: Betty Clifford, mother of three, including Gayle, who married John Mike Whitman. One neighbor's only memory of Charlie was seeing him chase Betty in the yard and driveway trying to whip her with a belt. Betty divorced Charlie in 1993 and died in 2001.
His childhood: One of four children, he and his brother were given up by his mother to be raised in a Savannah, Ga., orphanage, The Bethesda Orphans Home for Boys. He would eventually buy the house next-door to his on South L Street for his mother.
His career: He ran a plumbing business with first wife Margaret, who was the bookkeeper. A well-known social climber, Whitman was elected to the Democratic Party's county executive committee. Pallbearers at his son and wife's funeral included some of Lake Worth's most prominent politicians. In his later years, Whitman got into well drilling. He bought a 5-acre nursery in what was then rural Boynton Beach, where he built a house. Diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1989 and Alzheimer's in 1995, he died in a Boynton nursing home in 2001.
His second wife: Ellen Ward, 23, was divorced, pregnant and had a 3-year-old son when her parents persuaded her to marry Whitman, 47, in November 1966. They divorced in April 1967.
His third wife: Betty Clifford, mother of three, including Gayle, who married John Mike Whitman. One neighbor's only memory of Charlie was seeing him chase Betty in the yard and driveway trying to whip her with a belt. Betty divorced Charlie in 1993 and died in 2001.
Palm Beach Post:
His childhood: One of four children, he and his brother were given up by his mother to be raised in a Savannah, Ga., orphanage, The Bethesda Orphans Home for Boys. He would eventually buy the house next-door to his on South L Street for his mother.
His career: He ran a plumbing business with first wife Margaret, who was the bookkeeper. A well-known social climber, Whitman was elected to the Democratic Party's county executive committee. Pallbearers at his son and wife's funeral included some of Lake Worth's most prominent politicians. In his later years, Whitman got into well drilling. He bought a 5-acre nursery in what was then rural Boynton Beach, where he built a house. Diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1989 and Alzheimer's in 1995, he died in a Boynton nursing home in 2001.
His second wife: Ellen Ward, 23, was divorced, pregnant and had a 3-year-old son when her parents persuaded her to marry Whitman, 47, in November 1966. They divorced in April 1967.
His third wife: Betty Clifford, mother of three, including Gayle, who married John Mike Whitman. One neighbor's only memory of Charlie was seeing him chase Betty in the yard and driveway trying to whip her with a belt. Betty divorced Charlie in 1993 and died in 2001.
His childhood: One of four children, he and his brother were given up by his mother to be raised in a Savannah, Ga., orphanage, The Bethesda Orphans Home for Boys. He would eventually buy the house next-door to his on South L Street for his mother.
His career: He ran a plumbing business with first wife Margaret, who was the bookkeeper. A well-known social climber, Whitman was elected to the Democratic Party's county executive committee. Pallbearers at his son and wife's funeral included some of Lake Worth's most prominent politicians. In his later years, Whitman got into well drilling. He bought a 5-acre nursery in what was then rural Boynton Beach, where he built a house. Diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1989 and Alzheimer's in 1995, he died in a Boynton nursing home in 2001.
His second wife: Ellen Ward, 23, was divorced, pregnant and had a 3-year-old son when her parents persuaded her to marry Whitman, 47, in November 1966. They divorced in April 1967.
His third wife: Betty Clifford, mother of three, including Gayle, who married John Mike Whitman. One neighbor's only memory of Charlie was seeing him chase Betty in the yard and driveway trying to whip her with a belt. Betty divorced Charlie in 1993 and died in 2001.
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