THE INCREDIBLE STORY OF EDWARD A. WHITNEY
 "My estate does not belong to me; I'm only its steward: it belongs to the people and I dare not be careless with it." - Edward A. Whitney

Sheridan area benefactor Edward A. Whitney willed most of his estate to establish Whitney Benefits Inc., creating the first educational foundation in Wyoming. According to his original trustees, Whitney spent three decades of his life planning his gift to the people of the County. He made extensive investigations in the East as to how trust funds were structured for education, and repeatedly asked his three associates, later to become the trustees of his estate, for suggestions.

The Foundation was established in 1927, ten years after his death in 1917, as provided by his will.  In the years since the establishment of the Foundation the earnings from the trust have educated thousands of youth, heavily funded Sheridan College and the YMCA, built Whitney Commons Park and the Sheridan Ice Rink, established the Whitney Center and benefited the area and its people in many other ways.  Learn more about Edward A. Whitney.

Mr. Whitney specifically stated in his Will that, "The corporation trustees, acting as such, shall receive no pay for their services, as it seems to me that the selection and honor of serving on such a board for such purpose would, with the opportunity given to benefit the youth of their own county, attract men of ability and influence who would find the work a labor of love, so to speak, and would willingly fill the office of advisors and directors of the paid working officials into whose hands they commit the actual working out of their plans and instructions."

MEMBERS OF THE WHITNEY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Since 1927, when Whitney Benefits was created, 92 dedicated individuals have served on the Whitney Benefits Board of Trustees.  These 92 Whitney Trustees have dedicated over 1,007 years of service supporting education and building our Sheridan community.

C .V. Davis 1927-1947 Alf Diefenderfer 1927-1945 F.A. Eaton 1927-1937 Edward P. Fitzgerald 1927-1935 W.G. Griffen 1927-1943 Vernon Griffith 1927-1959 Emerson Hanson 1927-1962 I.P. Hayes 1927-1945 B.G. McKeen 1927-1943 H.C. Stevens 1927-1929 & 1936-1945 J.D. Thorn 1927-1931 Allen Williams 1927-1934 N.P. Yentzer 1927-1929 E.C. Bowman 1930-1955 Peter Kooi 1930-1935 L.J. O’Marr 1931-1943 J. Frank Kirkpatrick 1935-1941 Ralph Carmichael 1936-1955 Lawrence S. Fuller 1937-1943 W.N. Shackelford 1942-1965 William D. Redle 1943-1959 O.G. Rhode 1944-1963 Edwin Small 1944-1947 James Wolfe 1944-1959 Dr. P.M. Schunk 1945-1945 Jackson Bentley 1946-1953 George Johnson 1946-1951 Andre Zoutte 1946-1953 Ralph Hylton 1948-1959 Ted Kellner 1948-1952 Hurbert O. Minick 1951-1958 E.E. Edwards 1952-1959 James Carroll 1954-1960 Robert Holstedt 1954-1965 Charles H. Kane 1956-1959 J.W. Wilson, Jr. 1956-1961 Clifford H. Carroll 1958-1961 Harold Newton 1960-61 & 1972-81 Jesse K. Beeson 1960-1967 C.D. Calhoun 1960-1963 W.J. Christensen 1960-1967 William Long 1960-1975 Dr. Peter Madsen 1960-1987 Homer Scott, Sr. 1960-1993 Gus Booras 1962-1965 Henry A. Burgess 1962-1993

J. Gordon McCalister 1962-1965 Donald Roberts 1962-1965 Fred Kaufmann 1964-1969 William Welch 1964-1967 Warren Sheldon 1965-1969 C.B. Metz 1966-1993 Frank Panetta 1966-1972 Joe Parker 1966-1982 S. Watts Smyth 1966-1977 Burton Kerns 1968-1989 Ralph Foster 1969-1970 George Gligorea 1970-1991 Dorothy King 1970-2001 John P. Chase 1972-Present W. E. Cook 1972-1991 Dr. George Ewan 1975-1999 Jane Schroeder 1977-1991 N.A. Nelson, Jr. 1982-2001 David Withrow 1982-Present David Parker 1986-1999 Ray Johnston 1989-1994 Waldo Forbes 1991-1999 Tim Barnes 1992-2001 Roy Garber 1992-Present Darlene Reiter 1993-1997 Ky Dixon 1994-1997 Bruce Hendricks 1994-1996 Sam Scott 1994-Present John Smith 1996-1999 & 2002-2005 Candy Hardesty 1998-1999 Janet Ludwig 1998-2001 Tom Belus 2000-Present Tom Kinnison 2000-Present Gary Koltiska 2000-2003 Tim Tarver 2000-2004 Tom Throne 2000-2003 Kim Love 2001-Present Val Burgess 2002-Present Mary Ellen McWilliams 2002-2005 John Patton 2002-2002 Dr. Sy Thickman 2002-2002 Maureen Humphrys 2003-Present Peter Schoonmaker 2004-Present Samuel S. Street 2005-Present Stephen Holst 2006-Present Everett E. McGlothin 2006-Present