Chris Whitaker:  

Greetings fellow Wolfson graduates AND welcome to my little corner of the world..... After I graduated from Wolfson, I attended Georgia Southern College, in Statesboro, GA. As the old Allman Brothers song was titled "The Statesboro Blues"... I got them, and decided to go back home to Jax. where I attended FJC for 2 semesters... before I got married to my first husband. Wow! What a time that was anyway. I am going to college in a small rural GA town and people are dressing up to go to classes in blue jean overalls (nice ones) and wearing bee-bops ( saddle oxfords.) I go and visit my friends at UF (Hi Mary Hill and others) there are anti-war protests and flag burners and people are half naked and high on drugs (NOT MARY!) others, I said. Some of us were in sororities and fraternities and some were loaded 24-7. What a CRAZY time that was indeed! I had two friends shot in the Vietnam war. Life became so uncertain and the innocence of life was disappear. All my friends ended up going in all different directions. It was a very confusing time. I got "lost" in it for several years myself. I met my first husband at the beach the summer of '69. I was married to Jack in 1972. He was a good man but I was way too young for marriage and we divorced. I am happy for those of you who got it right the first time and stayed married! You were extra blessed. Seriously. Like I said, it was a very confusing time. After my divorce I stayed in Clearwater, FL, near the beach. No offense those who stayed in Jax. but I really just fell in love with the Gulf coast of FLA. It was a nice change and I made some wonderful life time friends. I was able to learn how to live on my own and start taking life more seriously. It was at this time things started looking up! I had a good job and really was enjoying my life. Then, at just the right time in my life I met a nice young man named Tom. He became my second husband and we were married in 1986. We just celebrated 29 years together this past October. Turns out that he loved the mountains as much as I did and had been a camper at Camp Greenville. So we were married at Symmes Chapel (Pretty Place) to locals -- a place I had been going to for years and loved myself. We have one son, Tommy, who is 19. Yes, 19! I had a late start. I know most of your have your grands by now! He is keeping us young and active! He is very special. I could write pages about him but you have your own so you know what I mean.....I became # 1 Mom and I loved every single minute of it. It is the best! We just became empty nesters. One of my bucket list goals was to spend the month of October in the mountains of NC. It was such a good time. We have made our home in Bradenton for 26 years now. I am 10 minutes to the beach. Anna Maria is my favorite place to watch the sunset and enjoy some great seafood. I still go to and really enjoy the beach! The Bradenton/Sarasota area has some of the prettiest beaches in FLA. Really. It can get a bit crowded in tourist season but come and visit! If you have not been here our beaches are unspoiled and not over developed. We have few high rises and lots of single family homes/cottages. GREAT places to fish too. It is super nice area to raise a family, fun and safe, which is getting harder to find in FLA these days. My life career has been real estate and title insurance and raising our son. I have also been blessed to have my youngest sibling, Howard-C 76, live 11 blocks from me. He is a single Dad with 3 children who raised them by mostly by himself and did a great job. Adam is 30 and Claire is 23 and Anna 22 They all attended Bradenton Christian School. We had lots of fun keeping up with them or trying to. They bring much joy to our lives. I am close with all my siblings...Loraine Pratt Nelson, C-67 lives in Orange Park with her husband, David. Her son, Trip, is 37 and married to his sweet wife, Nicole from Quincy, IL. They live in Oveido with their two children, Pax, 5 and Kendall Kay, 2. John (a/k/a Billy) C-72 lives in Atlanta with his wife of 35 years, Jane. His daughter, Jenni, lives there also and was married June '07 to a her wonderful guy, Matt, from Memphis, TN. They have Baylor, 4 and Sadie Jane 2. My parents are gone now. They spent winters here the last 15 years of their lives and I have many great memories of fun times together. My dear Mom died 15 years ago and my Dad 10. One of my great joys was taking care of my Dad for the last years of his life. I so admired his courage, faith and sense of humor. The saddest time in my life was the loss of my brother John's son, Taylor. He was so very precious to all of us and only 19. To lose him so young was devastating to my family. Because of his faith we know exactly where he is and it gives us great peace. We still miss him so very much...Not a day goes by that I do not think of him. We face many trials in life ...Expand for more