Today's Featured Biography

 
Bud Whetstone

As most of you will not recall, I left high school after my Jr. year and went to the University of Arkansas. Entering college at age 16 seemed like a good idea at the time but it would have been a better idea to have stayed in high school, repeated a grade and graduated with the class of 61. My college career was remarkable. I was on academic probation three times but was able to finish a four year course in only six years, graduating with a degree in Education. During that six years, I flunked out of law school.

My first job after college was in Titusville, Florida where I taught 9th grade Civics and coached track. After a year of teaching, I entered law school at the University of Mississippi and, against all odds, graduated in 1969. While in law school I got married to a girl from Memphis, more on that later. After graduating from Old Miss, I moved to Little Rock and started practicing law with my dad. He moved from El Dorado to Little Rock in 1968. We practiced together for 15 years and the remaining 36 years I have been a trial lawyer in Little Rock and I am still lawyering. For details see www.whetstonespearsandodum.com.

My first marriage lasted 22 years and ended when she invited me to leave. We had two children together, a boy and a girl. After my divorce, I was in therapy for about 5 years. Therapy gave me insight as to why she ran me off and left me asking the question “Why hadn’t she done it sooner?”.

In 1997 my son, Dalton, drowned at age 26 when he got out of a hot tub, got into a cold swimming pool and fainted. My daughter, Lee, is 35, married and is working in Little Rock as a therapist. So far, no grandchildren but it’s on my wish list.

In 2000 I got remarried and in 2005 my wife died from breast cancer. I stayed home with her for 14 months while she was in hospice. She was a great lady in every respect and I was fortunate to have had her in my life.

Last December I got married again to a beautiful lady named Kim and we are living happily ever after. She is an R.N. and has only one patient, me. For those of you who are in the market for remarriage, I highly recommend, at our age, that you find yourself a nurse.

My sister, Ruth, who was in the class ahead of us is a retired lawyer in Tampa, Florida. She has Lou Gehrig’s disease and is not expected to live more than a month, which could cause me to miss the 50th reunion. In any event, I have enjoyed reading the various online biographies and being brought up to date. Hopefully, I will be able to attend the class reunion and get reacquainted with my classmates. If you remember me, you will notice that I no longer wear size 29 Levis.

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