{"id":6674,"date":"2013-06-29T00:00:22","date_gmt":"2013-06-29T00:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.brethren.org\/news\/?p=6674"},"modified":"2018-11-03T20:20:12","modified_gmt":"2018-11-03T20:20:12","slug":"remembering-slim-whitman-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2013\/remembering-slim-whitman-the\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Slim Whitman, the Church\u2019s \u2018Mr. Songman.\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by courtesy of Brethren Press<\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
“Mr. Songman” biography of the country singer Slim Whitman, published by Brethren Press in 1982<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Country singer Slim Whitman, 90, who was a longtime member and deacon emeritus at Jacksonville (Fla.) Church of the Brethren, passed away June 19 at Orange Park (Fla.) Medical Center. He was the subject of the book \u201cMr. Songman,\u201d written by Kenneth L. Gibble and published by Brethren Press in 1982.<\/p>\n

Remembered by friends in the congregation and Atlantic Southeast District as a gentle and loving man, Whitman retained his Brethren simplicity even as he gained in popularity as a performer. He is remembered in media reports as \u201cthe high-pitched yodeler who sold millions of records\u201d and whose song saved the world in the film comedy “Mars Attacks!” He recorded more than 65 albums, and was known for his three-octave singing range.<\/p>\n

His obituaries have recorded his musical influence on early rock, and how he popularized country music, particularly in the UK. \u201cWhitman also encouraged a teen Elvis Presley when he was the headliner on the bill and the young singer was making his professional debut,\u201d noted one report.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis career spanned six decades, beginning in the late 1940s, but he achieved cult figure status in the 1980s. His visage as an ordinary guy singing romantic ballads struck a responsive chord with the public,\u201d said the Huffington Post, which quoted Whitman\u2019s good humored comment about a famous TV advertisement for his music: “It buys fuel for the boat.”<\/p>\n

“I don’t think you’ve ever heard anything bad about me, and I’d like to keep it that way,\u201d he was quoted in the Huffington Post. \u201cI’d like my son to remember me as a good dad. I’d like the people to remember me as having a good voice and a clean suit.”<\/p>\n

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Photo by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford<\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Messenger Dinner program that featured a drawing of Slim Whitman by Messenger editor Kermon Thomasson, Annual Conference 1982<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Slim Whitman performed at the Messenger Dinner at the Annual Conference in Wichita, Kan., in 1982. For the occasion, \u201cMessenger\u201d editor Kermon Thomasson drew him for the cover of the dinner program, shown playing his guitar and adorned with sequins. Brethren Press publisher Wendy McFadden, at the time on the Messenger staff, recalls the flurry of activity to prepare for the dinner and how the \u201csequins\u201d on the program illustrations were created by hand with glue and glitter.<\/p>\n

Whitman was for many years a deacon at Jacksonville Church of the Brethren, where his wife Alma Geraldine (Jerry) often cooked the love feast meal, reported family friend Ruby Raymer. \u201cThey were good church members,\u201d Raymer said.<\/p>\n

The Jacksonville congregation would gather for a Sunday evening Bible study in the 1960s and \u201970s, when Jerry would play the piano and Slim would lead a hymn sing.<\/p>\n

Whitman also was a good fisherman, taking out his boat \u201cChicken of the Sea\u201d to fish off the Florida Keys. He loved animals, Raymer said, to the point of taking in a stray cat he named Roadkill, and once buying a new ladder when the short ladder he was going to use to fix his roof was of a length to disturb a dove\u2019s nest. He couldn\u2019t bear to destroy the doves\u2019 home, she recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want him remembered as just a simple, living person,\u201d Raymer said, telling of the Whitmans\u2019 simple lifestyle. While he was still able, Whitman cared for his property himself, and maintained his own equipment. \u201cHe didn\u2019t take advantage of the fact that he was famous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ruby and her husband Bill accompanied the family on Slim Whitman\u2019s Farewell Tour when–at close to 80–he toured England, Scotland, and Ireland for the last time. His shows were sold out. \u201cHe didn\u2019t miss a cue,\u201d Raymer said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t have a prompter. The only thing he had at the show was a piece of notebook paper with the songs he would do that night.\u201d<\/p>\n

At one of Slim\u2019s last shows in Ireland, the crowd began to hum along softly to \u201cRose Marie.\u201d Hearing them, as Raymer tells it, Whitman paused and invited the people to sing along. He always went out front after each performance to meet his fans, and during the Farewell Tour emotional fans crowded around wanting a last chance to give Slim Whitman a hug.<\/p>\n

Son Byron Whitman \u201cwas half of his show for many years,\u201d Raymer said. Byron played the keyboard organ and would introduce his father. \u201cDo what you do do well,\u201d Slim had told Byron when he was a little boy, Raymer remembers–advice that stuck with him, and was picked up by others who were struck by its wisdom.<\/p>\n

Born in Tampa, Fla., on Jan. 23, 1923, he was named Ottis Dewey Whitman Jr. Before his singing career he worked as a meatpacker and a postman and also worked at a shipyard. Whitman\u2019s wife Jerry passed away in 2009. After her death, he produced a last album on CD titled \u201cTwilight on the Trail,\u201d in her memory. He is survived by his son Byron, daughter Sharron Beagle who is married to Roy Beagle, grandchildren and great grandchildren.<\/p>\n

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on June 29 at The Rock Bible Church, a Church of the Brethren congregation in Middleburg, Fla. Jerry Whitman\u2019s father, A.D. Crist, helped build the congregation, formerly named Clay County Church of the Brethren.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Country singer Slim Whitman, 90, who was a longtime member and deacon emeritus at Jacksonville (Fla.) Church of the Brethren, passed away June 19 at Orange Park (Fla.) Medical Center. He was the subject of the book \u201cMr. Songman,\u201d written by Kenneth L. Gibble and published by Brethren Press in 1982.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[49,1343,1351],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-6674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-brethren-press","tag-messenger","tag-slim-whitman"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6674"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6677,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6674\/revisions\/6677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6674"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=6674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}