William Whitaker

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Biography

William was born in Utah in 1905. He married Martha Elizabeth Bassett in Salt Lake City in 1926. He taught at the Chicago Art Institute; they lived in Evanston. He worked in advertising art, including as art director for Montgomery Ward. They retired to La Jolla, California, in 1949, but moved to Midway, Utah, in 1951 to renovate and run the old family resort in Beaver. He retired to Provo in 1972 and died there in 1998. He was buried in Midway Cemetery under the marker "Dreamer, Artist, Songster."

Sources

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/157420236/william-ferrin-whitaker including obituary from Deseret News (Salt Lake City, UT), April 22, 1998:

William Ferrin Whitaker passed away in Provo, April 21, 1998, surrounded by members of his family.

He was born August 13, 1905, in Beaver, Utah, to Orson and Clara Fotheringham Whitaker, and spent his boyhood in Kanosh, Heber, Brigham City, and Denver.

In 1926 he married Martha Elizabeth Bassett in the Salt Lake Temple and they moved to Chicago where he studied at the Art Institute, going on to a successful career, first as award-winning art director for Montgomery Ward, later heading his own advertising art studio. He retired in 1949 to pursue painting full time in La Jolla, California, but in 1951 he was drawn back to Utah where, with his brothers and families, he renovated Schneitters Hot Pots, the old resort, where he had swum as a boy, renaming it the Homestead. The resort was sold in 1972 and he and his wife retired to Provo.

Throughout his business career he continued to pursue his art, and became noted for his fluid portrayals of horses. His paintings were exhibited and sold at galleries in Carmel, Los Angeles, Scottsdale and Salt Lake City. He was a member of the Carmel Art Association, and his work hangs in the Utah State Art Collection. Ferrin served his church and its auxiliaries in many capacities, and all his life he was a devoted son, brother, husband, father and grandfather, loved to the end for his warmth, humor and generosity.

He was preceded in death by his parents, two sisters, five brothers.

Survivors include, Martha, his beloved wife of 72 years; son, William Ferrin Jr.; and wife, Sandra, of Provo; daughters, Orma Claire and husband, Rod Peterson, of Santa Fe, New Mexico; Connie and husband, Anthony Jacobs, of Glencoe, Illinois; and Susan Kohler, of Riverside, California; 14 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren, brother Jack Whitaker, of Salt Lake City; numerous nieces and nephews, and close family friend, Nancy Carlson.

Funeral service will be held Friday, April 24, 1998, in the Berg Drawing Room Chapel, 185 East Center Street, Provo. Interment, Midway City Cemetery.