David William Whitley

David William Whitley, 82, of Okanogan, Wash. passed away Feb. 6, 2023. He was born in the Dolly Buchanan Maternity Home on Elmway in Okanogan on July 27, 1940.
David spent the first 12 years of his life on a ranch in the Cameron Lake area, where he grew up riding a horse to school, and riding for cattle on the ranch. The family also hand-milked between 10 and 20 milk cows and sold cream, so David was milking cows by the time he was five.
He had an older sister, Elaine, and two younger brothers, Dan and Ben, together they had many adventures with long horseback rides and rattlesnakes, the old country school and wonderful country kids as friends.
David was very creative, he built play tractors out of old farm machinery parts, and forts high in old pine trees. When he was eight, he went from driving draft horses to driving a new Farmall Tractor.
When David was 12, the family moved closer to town, to Spring Coulee, where the children could ride a bus to public school and attend high school.
He worked a Biles-Coleman lumber mill for a time before he joined the U.S. Army in 1962. He spent time in Ft. Knox and patrolled the Berlin Wall in Germany. After his time in the Army, he moved to a home in the Monse area, where he raised beef cattle and worked for a rancher, Don Chalmers. He did a lot of trucking over the years and owned a cattle truck. He said one time that he never had to look for a job, someone always called him.
In 1969, he married Gwen Brantner. Together they raised beef cattle and rode many miles together tending their livestock. They also enjoyed riding and camping in the high country, with many stories to tell.
Together they supplied many beef steers for young people and taught them how to raise and show beef steers at the county fair. One year, one took the Grand Champion ribbon.
In later years, he went to work at Okanogan Truck & Tractor. He enjoyed the people and the work so much that he was disappointed when he had to retire at 80. He still went there to hang out and drink coffee.
He is greatly missed by his friends and family.
He is survived by his wife, Gwen Whitley; sister, Elaine Duncan; brothers Dan (Esther) Whitley and Ben (Jeanne) Whitley; and by numerous nieces and nephews who loved him dearly. He was preceded in death by his parents, William 'Bill' and Dorothy Whitley.
A celebration of life will be at 11 a.m., Saturday, May 6, 2023, at the Old Flour Mill in Okanogan.