James Dale "Whit" Whitaker

James Dale “Whit” Whitaker, 83, of Kansas City, Missouri, passed away Sunday, July 7, 2024. A Celebration of Life is scheduled for Thursday, July 18th at Newcomer’s White Chapel Funeral Home in Gladstone. Family will welcome all to visit, for story sharing and picture viewing, from 3:00pm-4:30pm. Memorial Service begins at 4:30pm. A private ceremony for Interment of Ashes will be scheduled at a later date.

Jim was born March 21, 1941 in Chula, MO. He was the first born of seven children to Dale and Virginia (Kanan) Whitaker. The family lived in Cameron and Rosedale before moving to the Northland around 1960. Jim attended Holy Name and Bishop Miege High School where he played football and graduated in 1959. He served in the Marine Corps in the early 60’s. He was stationed at Parris Island, South Carolina and eventually became a pilot flying and landing a T-2A jet on the aircraft carrier Lexington. Jim worked as a concrete laborer while he earned an Associates Degree from Donnelly College in 1964. In the early 70’s he worked at International Paper designing cardboard packaging for products. In 1973, he was offered a sales position with L.E. Sauer Machine Co. in St. Louis. He worked his territory in the middle of the country from Canada to Texas every week for 28 years until he retired in 2001.

He knew his wife, Carolyn (Holtzman), in high school but they did not date until being fixed up on a date after Carolyn’s divorce. They quickly fell in love and married on March 14, 1968. Jim loved and raised Carolyn’s three children as his own. The two of them had a spirited relationship and enjoyed life to its fullest. They loved traveling the world, visiting many European and Asian countries. Sadly he lost the love of his life when he was just 58 after being married for 32 years. No one could ever replace her for him.

Jim loved being a grandfather to 6 and great grandfather to seven. There were many grandkid sleepovers at his house in the 80’s. He was grief stricken when his grandson, Taylor Ware, also a Marine, passed in 2019. Jim was blessed to be able to hold the most recent addition to the great grandkid list, Joey, who is 10 months old.

Jim cherished his family and had countless friends. He enjoyed the bars in Kansas City, Kansas, golfing anywhere, but especially at Painted Hills, any sport, wagering on any sport, bowling at St. Johns, history, reading, crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, playing Scrabble, watching Jeopardy, home improvement projects, fishing in Mexico, family vacations to St. Augustine, Florida and he probably should have become a lawyer because he would argue with anyone about anything, and that’s why we loved him most.

For all you Chiefs and Royals fans out there, he attended the very first Super Bowl on January 15, 1967, then called the World Championship game, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for $12. He also attended game 5 of the 1980 World Series to see the Royals. (Both Chiefs and Royals lost!)

Jim is survived by his daughter, Laura DuBow (Norm) of Huntington Beach, CA, his son, Thomas Ware of Gladstone, his grandchildren, Josh Masters (Jill Kamphefner), Jimmy Masters (Teresa), Nikki Roberts (Dave), Ben and Georgia DuBow, and his great grandchildren, Cameron, Kate, Noah, Ziah, Scarlett, Malia and Joey, his sister Mary Craft and many nieces, nephews and cousins.

One day after Jim’s passing his daughter, Susan Masters of Excelsior Springs, passed away on July 8, 2024, surviving his death by a few hours.

Jim was very generous and donated to charities regularly. Some favorites are Children’s Mercy Hospital, St Jude and KC Hospice.

He recently said he’s had a good fulfilled life. He was a wonderful human. All who knew him, loved him. He will be deeply missed.