Janice H. Whiting

Gloucester: Janice Heffernan Whiting died Monday, January 9, 2012 at her home in Gloucester at the age of 93.
Mrs. Whiting attended Connecticut College in her hometown of New London, Connecticut where, in 1941, she met her future husband, Captain George Whiting: a 1936 Naval Academy graduate. Before they could marry, his submarine, the SS Triton 201, was ordered to Pearl Harbor, and the couple wed on the Island of Oahu in August the same year.
On December 7th while her husband was on patrol off Midway, Mrs. Whiting awoke to the "racket" filtering up from the harbor: the aerial attack by Japan that would mark the beginning of the United States involvement in WWII. A year and a half into the war, she received news that the submarine on which Captain Whiting was the executive officer, the SS Grenadier 210, did not report in. For most of two and one half years, Mrs. Whiting did not know his fate. It was only after the cessation of hostilities that he telephoned his family from Guam, and she learned of his survival as P.O. W. in a Japanese interrogation camp.
The couple began to recapture years lost to the war while stationed in Key West: one of their many assignments before her husband concluded a 30 year career in the navy. Mrs. Whiting gave birth to four children over eleven years, and the family eventually relocated to Norfolk, VA. in 1969. Here, she obtained a B.A. in Philosophy and Religion from Old Dominion University in 1977.
In 1979, she and Captain Whiting settled permanently in Gloucester, VA. Mrs. Whiting worked for the then newly formed Rosewell Foundation where her husband was the director for five years. During this time, preservation of the 18th century Virginia mansion's massive brick chimneys and walls resumed, a newsletter initiated, and the first steps in new archaeology begun. She was a member of the Peninsula Fine Arts Society, the Gloucester-Mathews Humane Society, the Gloucester Historical Society, and the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities.
After the passing of her husband in 2001, Mrs. Whiting completed an exhaustive work on the genealogy and history of her family, which the two of them had started earlier. A skilled writer with a keen, opinionated intellect, she often submitted letters for the editorial page of the Gloucester-Mathews Gazette Journal. She had a deep concern for the welfare of all creatures, the conservation of their habitat, as well as the protection of our world environment in general.
Mrs. Whiting is survived by her daughter, Galen Whiting Bosworth; two sons, Renn Harris Whiting and George Harris Whiting; and two granddaughters, Whitney Whiting and Brittany Bosworth. She was preceded in death by her eldest son, Scott Whiting.
Memorial services officiated by Reverend Daniel O. Worthington, Jr. will be held 2:00 p.m. Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at Ware Episcopal Church, Gloucester. Burial will be in the family cemetery plot in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
Memorial gifts in Mrs. Whiting's memory may be made to any worthy cause devoted to human disaster relief, preservation of the environment, and the care of animals; especially dear to her heart was the Gloucester-Mathews Humane Society, P. O. Box 385, Gloucester, Virginia 23061.