Oliver Henry WHITNEY

   Cause of his death was Auto Crash.

   Another name for Oliver was Whit WHITNEY.

  General Notes:

SSN# 520-10-0639

Grew up as Henry Oliver Whitney, but when he signed up for social security they changed his name to Oliver Henry. Since his mother always called him Oliver, and his wife and friends called him Whit, he didn't bother to correct it. For official purposes he usually signed as O. H. Whitney.

When Oliver was about a year old, his father died from "consumption". He was raised by his mother, who provided for them by running cafes in the small South Dakota and Minnesota towns. Not too much is known about his childhood. He was good with numbers and mathematical concepts. He completed all of his high school algebra in half the normal time. He also was apparently a good artist, based on comments made by others. During the summer months, his mother would 'farm him out' to work on farms in the area. He was supposed to get room and board, and new clothes for his work. He said that he seldom got any new clothes. At age 12 he was doing the work of a grown man on thrashing crews, etc. He took a growth spurt at that age, and grew to his full six foot size.

As a youth, he was strong and agile. As a result, he became interested in boxing. He did some limited amount of prize fighting, and considered becoming a professional boxer, but as he told the story an old, punchy fighter showed him the error of his thinking. While they were sparring he suggested to the fellow that he might become a boxer, the old boxer gave him one shot to his solar plexus and he gave up that idea then and there. He said he thought he was going to die.

Comments about his having won Charleston dance contests seem to verify his agility. Even as an overweight, middle-aged man he was quite light on his feet and was always an excellent dancer.

One of his first jobs was as a railroad agent. Don't know how long that lasted, but then he got into construction work, for which he was a natural. He went to work for the Jahnig-Davis Construction Company of Britton, South Dakota. Because of his ability to solve complex problems in his head, he was soon made a foreman of the construction crew. As he used to like to tell it, they gave him a shovel and he couldn't get the hang of it, so they put him on a machine and he couldn't operate it, so the only thing left was to make him a boss.

From that time on construction was his lifes work. With titles as foreman, superintendant, field superintendant, etc. he built highways, dams, bridges, and the like from Minnesota west. He supervised the construction of the first highway through the Badlands National Monument in South Dakota, the Coachella canal in California, and the expansion of the Sky Harbor airport in Phoenix, Arizona.

He almost got in trouble with the military at the start of WWII, because the man in charge of the local draft board where he registered decided his work was more important to the war effort, and never sent in his registration. As it turned out, he was legally blind in his right eye and could not be drafted.

At some point during the war, he went to work for Lockheed in the Los Angeles area. He built the P-38 fighter, but it is not known what kind of a job he held at the time.

Next he moved his family to San Diego, Califonia. Bought an apartment house, The El Francisco. His wife ran the building while he did construction work in the area and also commuted from job sites in Arizona. At some point after the war, they moved to Phoenix again and bought a home. At that time he became a Mason, joining the lodge in Glendale, Arizona. Shortly thereafter, they moved back to the San Diego area. After working for other contractors, locating jobs, figuring bids, and supervising the work, he decided that he could do the same thing for himself. He passed the contractors exam, got his license and started his own company. The business prospered under his leadership, and grew from a small company that paved driveways and parking lots to one that could complete larger projects such as streets. At one point in the early 1950's he attained a Dun and Bradstreet rating of $500,000. This was an amazing feat for someone who had only been in business for three or four years.

He had a dry, british sense of humor, found it easy to laugh, and had a real zest for life. He always bought what he considered to be the best, and was convinced that you got what you paid for. He thought , because of his fathers early demise, that he would die young. As a result, I don't recall that he ever saved for the future. When he had money, he lived high and when he didn't he went without. He was a proud man who would never think of asking for help, charity or welfare. He prized people with common sense, and taught that, plus self reliance by his example. Most of all, he was a loving father. (Recollections of Ronald Whitney, his son)

Oliver married Gladys Lorraine SPITZER, daughter of William SPITZER and Paulina SCHENK, on 20 December 1930 in Britton, Marshall Co., South Dakota. (Gladys Lorraine SPITZER was born on 9 December 1910 in Ashley, McIntosh Co., North Dakota, died on 15 March 1981 in El Cajon, San Diego Co., California ⁴ and was buried in March 1981 in Alpine Cemetery, Alpine, California.) The cause of her death was Cancer of the small intestine.