Lillian DeArmon Whitney

Lillian DeArmon Whitney
Mrs. Whitney, age 81, of Charlotte, died Sunday, March 8, 2009, at Presbyterian Hospital, after living eleven years at Southminster Retirement Center. A native of Charlotte, she was born August 16, 1927, at the former Saint Peter's Hospital on North Poplar Street. A direct descendant of John Foard, a signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, Mrs. Whitney and her late husband, A. Grant Whitney, knew the historical importance of Charlotte/Mecklenburg in America's founding. Mrs. Whitney always smiled and made everyone her best friend. To her last moments, even after fighting Alzheimer's disease for many years, she was warm, loving, and gracious.
A memorial service will be held Wednesday, March 11, 2009, at 11:00 a.m. at Myers Park Presbyterian Church, and the family will receive friends immediately after the service in Providence Hall at the Church. Visitation will be held at Harry & Bryant Company on Tuesday, March 10, 2009, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. A private interment will be held at Elmwood Cemetery at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
Mrs. Whitney attended Central High School and for many decades was an active member of its alumni association. She then attended Queens College (now Queens University) for two years, attended summer sessions as a co-ed at Davidson College, and finally transferred and graduated Dean's List in 1948 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a psychology degree. She also took graduate courses in psychology at Columbia University in New York. While at Queens and Chapel Hill, she was a member of Chi Omega Society, serving as Treasurer at the Chapel Hill chapter. She was on the Homecoming Court at Chapel Hill.
After Chapel Hill, she returned to Charlotte where she worked for one year at Ivey's Department Store. During that year, she met her husband-to-be who was ironically an executive with the competitive business Belk Brothers and Belk Stores Services. After one year, she moved to New York City and worked as a model for Saks Fifth Avenue's flagship store at Rockefeller Center. She lived in New York for one year until her husband-to-be wooed her back to Charlotte.
Although her greatest love were her husband, children, and grandchildren, she was a daring entrepreneur at a time when women faced challenges in the business sector. In 1966, she founded L. Whitney & Company, a manufacturer's representative firm, where she represented in the two Carolinas the corporation which licensed and manufactured Peanuts character merchandise. She became known as Lillian 'Snoopy' Whitney and 'The Snoopy Lady' by friends and clients. Eventually she rose to serve as the Regional Sales Manager for that corporation, where she headed sales in seven southeast states from Virginia and Tennessee south to Florida. In her later business years, she also represented the fine linens firm of Paper White Ltd.
Baptized, raised and married at First Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, after her marriage in 1950, she moved to Myers Park Presbyterian Church, where she was an active member until chronic dementia disabled both her husband and her.
Mrs. Whitney was predeceased by her husband, A. Grant Whitney, a local civic activist, whose side she stood by during many important Charlotte celebrations which he led, including the visit of President Dwight David Eisenhower in celebration of the Mecklenburg Declaration on May 18, 1954, the dedication of the James K. Polk homestead attended by Lady Bird Johnson in 1968, and the visit of President Gerald R. Ford in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence.
Mrs. Whitney was also predeceased by her parents, Mr. Frank Wolfe DeArmon and his wife of seventy years Mrs. Lillian Belle Ritch DeArmon, both of whom were natives of the Charlotte area, Mint Hill and Newell, respectively. Mr. DeArmon, the son of Dr. John McCamie DeArmon one of the doctors to whom the Mint Hill Doctors' Museum is dedicated, was one of the first seven employees of American Trust Company which merged with American Commercial Bank to form North Carolina National Bank.
As to her own historic preservation efforts, Mrs. Whitney led a failed effort in the 1970s to preserve the Polk family house - the family home of the founder of Charlotte Thomas Polk - in a proposed historic district downtown which would have been known as Old Charlottetown.
Mrs. Whitney is survived by her three children, Julia 'Julie' Whitney Austin, of Charlotte, A. Grant Whitney, Jr., and his wife Mary Carol, of Charlotte, and Frank DeArmon Whitney, and his wife Catherine, of Charlotte; seven grandchildren, A. Grant Whitney, III, currently attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Foster McCarroll Whitney, currently attending North Carolina State University, Lillian 'Lily' Liuxin Austin of Charlotte, Anne 'Annie' Stone Whitney of Charlotte, Frances Hunter Whitney of Charlotte, William 'Will' O. Austin IV of Raleigh, and Elizabeth 'Beth' Jane Austin of Charlotte; her sister, Frances DeArmon Evans and husband Donald O. Evans of Charlotte and their daughters, Ashley Evans Stewart and Kathryn Evans Dockery; and many wonderful nephews and nieces and great-nephews and great-nieces in Charlotte, Virginia, and Massachusetts.
Her love for her family was unending. Active in the Girls Scouts of America as a scout leader, PTAs, and other parent organizations, family was always most important to her, including dedicating almost six years of her life by the side of her husband as he faced a debilitating neurological disorder which took his life in 1997.
Memorials may be made to the Festival in the Park, Inc., 1409 East Boulevard, Charlotte, NC, 28203, the annual arts festival which Mrs. Whitney's husband founded and to which Mrs. Whitney actively volunteered her time before Alzheimer's disease took her vitality and independence.
Harry & Bryant Company is serving the family.