Re: Henry S. Whitehead-personal life
Posted by:
Gavin Callaghan (IP Logged)
Date: 22 March, 2010 05:07PM
Douglas A. Anderson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Gavin:
>
> I'd be very interested to see a transcription of
> the Whitehead obit from the Dunedin newspaper.
Did I ever do this? My memory is very poor: I can't recall posting this (or not posting this.) At risk of repeating msyelf, here's the obit. Words I was unsure of (the left hand edge of the column was deteriorating, and did not photocopy well) are in brackets. Words I was unsure of, have a question mark behind them:
Dunedin Times, Florida, Friday, November 25, 1932. No. 48.
(Page 1)
Dr. Henry S. Whitehead Passes Away
Funeral of Noted Author And Clergyman to be Friday
The death of Dr. Henry S. Whitehead, rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Episcopal, Dunedin, and noted author took place Wednesday morning at 6:06 at his home in Dunedin Isles, after an illness of several days.
The immediate cause of his decrease was a cerebral hemorrhage, according to the attendant physicians. Dr. Whitehead had been an invalid for a number of years, having come to Dunedin for the purpose of attempting to restore his health.
The author was taken ill Saturday, when he had a fainting spell. His father, Henry H. Whitehead of St. Petersburg, came Monday, and was with his son to the last.
Funeral services will be held Friday afternoon at the St. Petersburg First Episcopal Church, of which he held the pastorship for a short time this summer. Bishop John B. Wing, a close friend of the deceased pastor, and head of the South Florida Diocese, will officiate, assisted by the rector of the church, the Rev. Evan Edwards. Many people, including the members of the church here, plan to attend the services.
Dr. Whitehead resided in his home in Dunedin Isles, which he purchased some months ago for a permanent residence. He came to Dunedin in October 1929, and he made his home here since that [time?]. C. J. Fletcher has been living with Dr. Whitehead, who enjoy[ed] the companionship of boys. He [has] had several local boys spend several months with him, and has [also?] had boys from the north visit [him] for a number of weeks.
Whitehead has been active [in civic] life, having been called upon to give addresses before many different gatherings. He has been [one of] the benefactors of the [Junior?] High School, going to the [school?] [e]ach Thursday to give the [students?] short talks on various subjects and giving a number of volumes of reference works for the [school] library. He addressed the graduating class of the Junior High School in June.
The writer’s last public appearance was when he spoke to an audience of colored people and white persons at Jubilee song services at the colored Methodist church here. He spoke before a large group in the city park the night before the general election, speaking on the subject of prohibition, and urging the election of Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt, one of his close friends.
Dr. Whitehead was born 50 years ago in Elizabeth, N. J. He was a graduate of Harvard University and Berkley Divinity School, and held degrees of Doctor of Philosophy and Doctor of Divinity.
The doctor held the pastorate of the Church of St. Mary of the Virgin in New York City, and other charges in New England. While at Bridgeport, Maine, Dr. Whitehead secured and directed the building of the Trinity Episcopal Church there. This is one of the finest and largest churches in New England.
For a number of years, Dr. Whitehead was Archdeacon of the Virgin islands, and it was while he [resided] in this portion of the West Indies, that he gained a wealth of experience with the natives and their customs. In fact, Dr. Whitehead was regarded as being one of the best informed present-day authorities on the geography, customs, and life of the West Indian negro. In his room, the author had hanging the document showing that he was elected a Fellow of the National Geographic Society in recognition of his research.
One of Dr. Whitehead’s activities was the taking of young boys
(Continued on page 4)
DR. HENRY S. WHITEHEAD
PASSES AWAY WEDNESDAY
(Continued from Page 1)
on trips to the Virgin Islands, tutoring them during the several months period.
The West Indies and the superstitions of the natives were often the subjects of his stories, which were published frequently in Adventure, Weird Tales and other magazines. “The Passing of a God,†which came out in Weird Tales, was adjudged the Best American Short Story for 1931 by the O. Henry Memorial Committee. The same story was selected as the best American short story in the British Empire Anthology, which included the story with others by authors from all nations.
Dr. Whitehead began his literary career in 1905, when his first short story was accepted; since that time over 400 stories and articles written by him have been published.
The author was widely traveled, having visited every European country except Russia. He was acquainted with a great many famous personages; his rooms containing many pictures of friends known to history, and cartoons drawn especially for the doctor bear the autographs of noted artists. President-elect Roosevelt was one of Dr. Whitehead’s Harvard classmates, and it was planned to have the youngest son of the next president visit here within a few weeks. [/end quote/]
From History of the Good Shepherd Church, p. 21:
“It was certainly a winter chapel in 1929-31 with the Reverend H. S. Whitehead Ph.D., in charge. Father Whitehead reports: ‘During this period when the Church was closed most of the people who were permanent residents joined the Presbyterians. The aspect of permanency is the chief desideratum for the future of the local Church in Dunedin. Many would come back if the Church were open for the full year, or for nine or ten months. Also there are others who would join is if permanency were assured with a suitable priest in charge. The church in season is comfortably filled.’†[/end quote/]
The twice-mentioned association of FDR w/ Whitehead, above, is interesting in this whole “gay†context, since I’ve twice come across associations of FDR with homosexuality. In Mariani’s biography of poet Hart Crane, for example, Crane is quoted as making a 1920 reference to FDR as our “‘new VICE-president, Franklin Roosevelt’, whose name an scandalous example already ’scented the air of Washington’.†(MARIANI 71) Crane had been sent to Washington D.C. by his wealthy father, where he soon became enmeshed of the U.S. government’s gay subculture. (Mariani misidentifies H.P. Lovecraft, interestingly, as a Cleveland resident.)
Roger Austin’s biography of pederastic aesthete Charles Warren Stoddard, too, mentions FDR in a similar connection, John Crowley‘s into‘ speaking of a “1919 and 1920 scandal over homosexual activities at the United States Naval training Station in Newport, Rhode Island, in which incident the young Franklin Delano Roosevelt, then Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and several other prominent figures had been caught up.†(CROWLEY xii) But perhaps this possibly trumped-up incident merely fed into Hart Crane's later rumor-mongering.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 22 Mar 10 | 05:12PM by Gavin Callaghan.