Dennis W. Whiteley

1953 - 2015

DENNIS W. WHITELEY Former Feather Falls and Oroville resident Dennis W. Whiteley passed away peacefully at his home in Live Oak, CA on Tuesday Dec. 1 after a heroic, 18-month battle against brain cancer. He was just a month shy of his 63rd birthday. He will be missed by his family, and friends. Dennis was born in San Rafael, CA in January 1953, following his twin brother, Donald, by about 20 minutes. His first 6 years of life were spent growing up in Clipper Mills, CA where his dad, Bill, was a logger, and mom, Kay, was a homemaker, raising 5 energetic boys. Kay, Bill and Dennis all served in the US Marine Corps; Kay and Bill during WWII, and Dennis during the last stages of the Vietnam War, where he served as an Air Traffic Controller. In Clipper Mills, Dennis attended 1stgrade in a one-room school that included three of his brothers and two cousins. The family moved to Feather Falls, CA the next year after Bill took a fallers job at the Georgia Pacific mill. He attended Feather Falls Union School (grades 2-8) and graduated in June 1967. Dennis loved school, made many friends and respected and admired the teachers and townfolk that he met in Feather Falls. He had a great childhood running and biking out in the woods with his friends, playing all sports and watching westerns and old TV shows with his family in the evenings. Dennis attended Las Plumas HS in Oroville, CA and graduated in 1971 (the family having moved to Oroville in 1968 after the mill was moved there). He lettered in four sports and played the trombone in the school band. He was guided in life by his great teachers and mentors he met while attending LP. After a stint in the USMC, where he had tours at MCAS Iwakuni, Japan and El Toro, CA he returned to Northern California and enrolled in the A&P Mechanic program at Shasta College in Redding, CA. Upon graduation he moved the family (which now included wife Norma and young daughter Beth) to Wichita, KA to work for Cessna on the Citation I executive jet prototype program. After many years gaining experience in jet-aircraft manufacturing, he re-located to Olympia, WA to work for Joe Soloy AC upgrading aircraft for use in the Alaskan backcountry. In the early 1990s, after the collapse of the USSR, Dennis, Norma and many of their fellow Jehovah Witness brothers and sisters flew to Russia to attend a JW convention. It was a trip of a lifetime. They got to stay with some regular Russian families, and Dennis could try out his Russian language skills (could read and speak; self-taught) on the locals. Dennis' last job was maintaining and repairing executive jets at Sacramento Airport. He was preceded in death by his parents, Bill (2007) and Kay (2012) and his beloved wife of 40 years, Norma (Halstead) Whiteley, who passed away this past September after a short battle with cancer. He is survived by his daughter, Beth (David) Rossi of Las Vegas, Nevada, six grandkids, three great-grandkids (one on the way in January), his brothers, John (Linda) Whiteley of Oroville, CA, Gary (Robin) Whiteley of Malott, WA, his twin brother, Donald (Trish) Whiteley of Ridgecrest, CA and brother Mark (Martha) Whiteley of San Jose, CA, along with numerous nephews, nieces and cousins scattered throughout the west coast. The family would like to thank Dennis' doctors, nurses and hospice staff for their heroic effort to first prolong his life, and then, at the end, to allow him to spend his last days at home while being surrounded by his loved ones, church family and nurses. Thank you to the many Witnesses in the Live Oak and Gridley area for bringing Dennis and Norma to their many doctor visits, for bringing food over to the house, and for the lovely Memorials for both Jeremiah (Dennis' nephew who passed away in August) and Norma. Memorial services are being planned.