Wayne County Press
Fairfield Illinois
date unknown

Richard "Dick" Whitson, 84, former Johnsonville resident died July 1st last year in a Streator hospital, according to word received by the Press recently. Death was of causes incident to his advanced age. Funeral services were held at Wenona, where Mr. Whitson made his home, with burial there.

A son of James and Margaret Denton Whitson, Mr. Whitson was born at Round Prairie in Wayne county on January 31st, 1868.

In February 1902, he was married to Miss Flora Mae Franklin of Cisne. They spent the early years of their married life on a farm near Johnsonville. Three children were born to this union. In 1906 they moved to Logan, Kansas, returning to Wayne county on the old Franklin homestead in 1915. They moved to Wenona in 1918. Mrs. Whitson died in 1922.

Mfr. Whitson was employed for a number of years with the Illinois Central Railroad and later served as sexton of the Wenona Cemetery association for 30 years.

Surviving are three children, Evertt, of Dixon; Richard, of Chicago; and Lena, now Mrs. Lloyd Cottrell, of Salt Lake City, Utah; ten grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.