Henry Alden (Al) Whetten, Jr. graduated from this life on 25 February 2017 in Mesa, Arizona at the age of 94. He was born to Henry Alden Whetten, Sr. and Lillie Mae Beecroft on 2 November 1922 in Colonia Dublan, Chihuahua, Mexico.
Al had a true “Wild West” experience in his early childhood in Mexico. His family moved to the Phoenix/Mesa area in 1936 when Al was fourteen. He was an industrious youth and could be found delivering newspapers, selling ice cream from his bicycle in Mesa and later, milking his own herd of cows in South Chandler before and after attending Mesa High School every day.
Al joined the Armed Forces during World War II and served as an MP in England. After the war he returned to Mesa and met and married Elda Hansen in the Mesa LDS Temple on 1 August 1947. They lived in Mesa where Al worked as a dairy farmer. In 1950 they moved to Idaho to try dairy farming there but returned to Mesa in 1956. At this time Al decided to try his hand at building houses and found his true niche in life. He became a contractor/developer and ran Your Home Construction for many years.
After losing Elda to cancer in 1972, Al married Lenore Hatch in 1979. They had a wonderful companionship, enjoying their later years with travelling to Church History sites, square dancing and serving as the best Grandparents in the world.
Al was predeceased by his wife Elda, sons Stanley and Dion, daughters Vernell Johnson and Marva Sonntag, brothers, Robert, Lloyd and Bill and wife Lenore.
He is survived by his brother Tom (Gayle) of Tucson, AZ and sisters, Arlene (Darrell) Waite and Kathleen Whetten both of Henderson, NV; daughters Denise (Ron) Taylor, Pat (Phil) Stapley, son Kerry (Melanie) Whetten all of Mesa, AZ, sons-in-law Raymond Johnson of Lakeside AZ and Greg Sonntag of Salt Lake City, UT, twenty grandchildren, forty-six great grandchildren, and two great-great grandchildren.
Viewing is Friday, 3 March 2017 from 6 to 8 PM at Bunker’s Garden Chapel, 33 N. Centennial Way, Mesa. There will also be a viewing on Saturday, 4 March 2017 at the LDS Taylor Park Ward, 825 S. 32nd St, Mesa, AZ 85204 from 9 to 10 AM, with services immediately following. Interment will be at City of Mesa Cemetery, 1212 N. Center St, Mesa, AZ.
Al was a wonderful, kind, and loving man. I loved him as a Father, and will always remember him.
He was a superb human being and a successful business man and investor. He served his church, his community and his country with distinction and loved his family and friends with supportive and understated service and admiration. His legacy of family and quiet obedience lives on in my memory forever. I will I’ll always remember his tall stature and generous smile.
To the Whetten family, I’m very sorry for your loss. I wanted to offer you some comfort that I’ve found in the Bible. In John 11:25 Jesus said “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who exercises faith in me, even though he dies, will come to life.” It’s my hope that you can draw comfort and strength from this promise that we can see the loved ones we have lost to death again.
https://www.jw.org/en/publications/books/dead-live-again-tract/dead-live-again/