LEXINGTON — The life of Bob Whitney was a balanced numeric equation.
Bob Whitney was Lexington. Lexington was Bob Whitney.
Lexington created Bob Whitney. Bob Whitney helped make Lexington what is is today.
For more than six decades, you could not have one without the other.
And it’s hard to believe, that as of late Monday afternoon when Robert H. Whitney passed away at age 88, one must go on without the other.
But that’s what Whitney would have wanted.
No, that’s what Whitney would have commanded.
For the past 60-plus years in north central Ohio, when Whitney spoke, everyone listened — in the courtroom, in the school board meeting room, and wherever else he happened to be.
Everyone respected Whitney — often because they knew he respected them.
‘Give me the ticket’
I met Whitney when I came to Mansfield in 1990 as 29-year-old reporter at the News Journal. He had already been practicing law for three decades.
He was standing in a hallway at the Richland County Courthouse, likely between court appearances for the criminal defendants extremely fortunate to have him as their attorney.
I had gotten what I believed to have been an unfair speeding ticket exiting Plymouth the night before. The citation was problematic given the points situation on my driver’s license at the time.
He listened to me complain a bit and then stuck out his hand.
“Give me the ticket,” he said in a voice that once you heard it would never leave your mind. “Let me make some calls.”
Dumbfounded, I handed him the ticket. He laughed and walked away.
The phone on my desk at the News Journal rang a couple of days later. It was Whitney.
“You OK with paying the fine if there are no points added to your license?” he asked.
I quickly replied, “Yes, sir.”
“OK, do that,” he said.
I did as Whitney said, of course, and never heard another word from Plymouth police. I also got no points on my license.
I ran into Whitney a few days later back at the courthouse. I asked him what I owed him for his efforts.
His eyes just twinkled. A ready smile creased his face.
“Just slow down next time,” he said as he headed into the courtroom.
A lifetime of legal dedication
That was my introduction to Bob Whitney, a man who spent a lifetime helping, educating and caring about the people who he encountered.
My Lord, what a lifetime it was.
Whitney packed more than a couple of normal lifetimes into his 88 years on earth.
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Whitney began practicing law when I was just 1 year old, a practice he continued until the end. He handled hundreds of felony cases, big and small. Guilt or innocence of his client never mattered to Whitney.
“Until they are found guilty, they are innocent,” he told me more than once.
Everyone was entitled to a defense and he provided the best.
I was part of the reporting team at the News Journal that covered the month-long “Trial of the Century” when Dr. John Boyle was convicted of murdering his wife, Noreen. Whitney was lead counsel for the defense.
Truthfully, thanks to great work by Mansfield police and the Richland County Prosecutor’s Office, it was not a fight any defense attorney could win. Especially after Boyle chose to take the stand himself, a move Whitney strongly advised his client against.
The doctor should have listened.
Any credibility Boyle had left was shredded by the time Prosecutor James J. Mayer Jr. finished his cross examination and exposed many of the physician’s lies.
I asked Whitney many years later if he was surprised Boyle demanded to testify.
“Was I surprised he testified? Not really. That’s the way he was,” Whitney told me. “He wanted to testify. There were a lot of holes in his story that didn’t work out.”
Educational titan
Perhaps the only place Whitney worked harder than in the courtroom was on behalf of the Lexington Local School District.
He joined the Lexington Local School District board of education in 1964 — the same year The Beatles stormed into America. He was still leading the board when he passed away six decades later.
Far from a figurehead, Whitney was re-elected less than three years ago in his mid 80s and spent most of his tenure on the board as its president. No one in the history of Ohio had a longer school board career than Whitney.
A 1953 graduate of Lexington High School, Whitney understood more than most the value of a well-rounded education — academics, athletics and the arts.
He demanded his administrators and teachers educate the students, witnessed by consistently high statewide test scores and district report cards.
Whitney and his beloved wife, Carole, were a constant presence at sporting events, band shows and anyplace else young people gathered together to represent their school.
He was as proud of the football team’s success as he was the Band of Gold’s success at the state marching band finals.
Two of my own sons graduated from Lexington High School, one in 2008 and the other in 2010. Whenever I ran into Whitney, even years later, he would smile and ask questions about how they were doing, remembering them by name.
They are doing just fine, Mr. Whitney. Thank you for always asking.
And I have indeed slowed down, especially around Plymouth.