Olive E. Whittaker

After courageously battling cancer for 6 months, she left us while sleeping peacefully next to Calvin, her soul mate, at her residence in Pflugerville, Texas. She was 80 years old.

Olive Elizabeth (Betty) Whittaker was born on August 13th, 1944, in Georgetown, Grand Cayman. She was the third born of seven children, four boys and 3 girls.

She was raised in a loving home that taught her the values that she would always live by for the rest of her life: kindness, community, honesty and the joy of a job well done.

At the age of 19, she met the man that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with, Calvin Whittaker. Braving the disapproval of her father and aided by her friends, she and Calvin eloped to get married in Jamaica in 1963.

Our grandfather would come to love and appreciate this son-in-law that he initially did not want and respect the life that they had made together.

Calvin and Betty have three sons, Ricky, Mickey and Geoffrey.

In the early years, Calvin was often away “on ship” because he was an engineer on large cargo vessels. Betty held down the fort and just made everything work.

For the three of us, their love was our rock…our safe harbor in the face of whatever the winds of adversity threw in our path.

For Betty, helping others came naturally and there are many that are happy to have crossed her path.

Betty was a combination of sheer willpower and femininity. She made us the men we are today. She never ever called herself a feminist, but for her there was no separation between boy “chores” and “girl” chores. She taught us to cook and clean and cheered us on at our football and baseball matches.

Betty was ambitious and hard-working. She changed careers multiple times. She worked for the Cayman government, for a bank, did taxes, owned and ran a restaurant, managed a medical office and finished her career as an HR manager for Texas A&M university. Wherever she worked, she was known as that “go to” person that could get things done and as she put it “done the right way”.

She will be missed, and her passing leaves a hole in our lives that will take time to mend.

A memorial service for Olive will be held Thursday, March 27, 2025, from 2:00 PM to 2:00 PM at Cook-Walden/Capital Parks Funeral Home, 14501 North Ih-35, Pflugerville, TX 78660.