Henry B. Whitaker of Yorktown Heights dies at 94

YORKTOWN, NY — Henry B. Whitaker, 94, passed away in his Yorktown Heights home on Wednesday evening, Nov. 9, 2016, surrounded by his immediate family.

Henry was a self-made man, cut from the fabric of the greatest generation. Growing up in Newsoms, Virginia, Henry answered the WWII call to service by joining the Merchant Marine. He served on the fuel tanker “Blackwater”, carrying vital fuel from the terminals at Bayonne, NJ across the Atlantic to Cherbourg, France after D-Day. He was in the Army training as a combat engineer for the invasion of Japan when the war ended.

After the war, he farmed for a period in Newsoms. In the late 1950s, he moved to Westchester County, New York where he founded Whitaker Overhead Garage Doors with his wife Faye. Quality and hard work became the values he passed to his children; never losing the disciplined lifestyle and rugged love of the outdoors that he developed during his youth in Virginia farm country. When he needed to expand his home for a growing family, he called four friends, and they roughed-in a complete second story in a week.

Henry was a force of nature, and the active patriarch of an extended family spread across the country. Several children and grandchildren followed his example of service by joining the military, serving in Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan. Others continue to run the thriving family custom garage door business.

Henry was active in several hunting clubs, the Fraternal Order of Elks, American Legion Post 1009, and was a life-member of the National Rifle Association. Henry was preceded in death by his wife Faye, and his son Donny. He is survived by children Henry B. “Barry” Whitaker Jr., Teresa Whitaker Creech, Francesca Whitaker Bloom, Faye Whitaker Gatto, Debora Whitaker Shank, Dawn Whitaker Wilson, and their spouses, 23 grandchildren, and 23 great-grandchildren. Henry will be mourned by all who knew him. When he made a friend, he kept them for life.

After a 94-year run, he left the way he lived: on his own terms in God’s hands.

Obituary courtesy Clark Funeral Home.