Whalen Eugene Neil
Marriages
Betty Willene Pettigrew - November 1955
JoAnn Wallace - August 1988
Burial Details
Obituaries
Grand Junction Daily Sentinel page 8A - May 11, 2011
Neil E. Whalen, age 79, passed away on May 7, 2011, surrounded
by his loved ones. He was born in Bavaria, Kansas to Albert A.
Whalen and Ruth M. Moon. He spent his childhood in Leoti, Kansas.
Neil joined the Navy in 1951 and was honorably discharged November
12, 1955 as a Fireman Second Class. He and Betty Willene
Pettigrew married in November of 1955. Neil and Betty moved to
Colorado and had three children; two daughters and a son. He retired
in 1987 from the Grand Junction Regional Center where he
worked as a Stationary Engineer.
Neil and JoAnn Wallace married in August of 1988, and he gained
five more beautiful daughters.
Neil enjoyed fly fishing, camping, round dancing, do-it-yourself
projects, and traveling.
Neil is survived by his wife, JoAnn; sister-in-law, E.I. Whalen;
daughters, Helena (Coll) Stanton and Diana Whalen; step-daughters,
Deborah (Robert) Ernst; Lorraine (Brian) Sheley; Patricia Wallace;
Susan (Arthur) DeForest, and Katherine (Stephen) Owens, as well as
15 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. He is also survived
by two special daughters, Ruby Parker and Samantha Morgan-Phillips.
He was preceded in death by his son, Eugene Lawson “Butchâ€
Whalen; his brother, Tom Whalen, and his sisters, Hopi Marquardt,
Mary Beeson, and Helen Whalen.
Services will be held at the Callahan-Edfast Mortuary, Thursday,
May 12, 2011 at 2:00 p.m., following which he will be laid to rest at
the Orchard Mesa Cemetery, next to his son.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be made to the
Rocky Mountain Lions Eye Bank, PO Box 6026, Aurora, CO
80045, or to the charity of your choice.