Charles Park Whittemore

SALISBURY — Charles Park Whittemore died peacefully on Jan. 15, 2017, at Noble Horizons. He was 95. 

Charlie, husband of Cecile “Celie” (Brown) Whittemore, was born on Sept. 15, 1921, in Ardmore, Pa., the son of Henry Lawrence Whittemore and Caroline (Doremus) Park Whittemore. 

Although physically limited to a wheelchair in his last 10 years, Charlie was an avid reader and was keenly interested in all national and global political events. He had recently finished a biography of Ulysses Grant and had a stack of many other books that he was eagerly looking forward to reading. 

He grew up in New Canaan, Conn., and graduated from the South Kent School and from Williams College in the Class of 1943. 

In 1943, Charlie returned to South Kent to teach history and Latin and to coach the baseball team. He loved to sing and led both the glee club and drama club at the school. 

Charlie’s teaching career at South Kent spanned a remarkable 45 years; he was the heart and soul of the school, its own “Mr. Chips” and fondly remembered by faculty and students of those five decades. 

In the late 1950s, Charlie took a leave of absence from teaching to pursue his master’s degree and Ph.D. in history at Columbia. 

While at Columbia, Charlie studied under the leading Jeffersonian scholar, Dumas Malone. For his doctoral thesis, he researched the military career of New Hampshire’s revolutionary war general, John Sullivan. 

In 1961, his research was published as a book entitled “A General of the Revolution.” 

Charlie was also an avid hiker. In 1969 he finished climbing the 46 peaks that comprise the Appalachian Mountain Club’s 4,000-Footer Club. Although his ability to hike was curtailed by a chronic neuropathy, his love of the outdoors and New England scenery endured and was beautifully evidenced in his accomplished watercolors. 

A bachelor for much of his life, Charlie married Cecile Brown in 1988; thus began a very happy period of his life as he and Celie traveled widely and enjoyed many adventures with family and friends across the USA and around the world. 

Celie’s family became Charlie’s family, with the South Kent connections providing a unique bond between the two; he was especially fond of all five of Celie’s children and their families. 

Charlie was predeceased by his wife, Celie; his brother, Henry Lawrence Whittemore Jr. and his sister-in-law, Elizabeth Eschmann Whittemore. 

He is survived by his niece, Elizabeth B. “Lisa” Whittemore and her wife, Cynthia Esthimer, of Hopkinton, Mass.; his nephew, Henry L. Whittemore and his wife, Darcy, of Readfield, Maine; his grand-niece, Katherine P. Whittemore of Portland, Maine; his grand-nephew, Samuel T. Whittemore of Los Angeles, Calif.;  and all five of Celie’s offspring, Joseph J. Brown III of Aspen, Colo., Anne B. “Nan” Mason and her husband, Ben, of Charlotte, Vt., William Kelly “Beep” Brown and his wife, Rebecca Wright, of Philadelphia, Pa., Cecile Harmar “Harmie”Brown and her husband, Larry Tomita of Solvang, Calif., and Juanita “Nita” Brown Howland and her husband, Mark, of Wareham, Mass. 

Charlie’s family is grateful to friends and relatives and to the staff of Noble Horizons for the love and support they gave Charlie and Celie. 

A service to celebrate Charlie’s life will be held at the South Kent School Chapel at a date in May to be determined and that will be available through the South Kent School. 

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent to South Kent School, 40 Bulls Bridge Road, South Kent, CT 06785 or the Southern Poverty Law Center, 400 Washington Ave., Montgomery, AL 36104. 

The Kenny Funeral Home in Sharon has care of arrangements.