Warren Whatley Sr., 92, knew and built history

Warren Whatley Sr. was a master carpenter and builder who operated Whatley Bros. Construction with two siblings, part of a crew that helped build the airfield for the Tuskegee Army Flying School; and he was a decorated World War II Army veteran.

To his family and friends, Mr. Whatley was also a “griot,” the African word for a chronicler of family and community history.

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Warren Whaley Sr. was among the first African-American contractors to build commercial buildings in metro Atlanta.

“Daddy remembered all the stuff from the days of segregation,” said his son, Lynn Whatley Sr. of Atlanta. “He could tell stories about” the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. “and of his days in Atlanta. He had a great memory and could remember detail. We did a video of him” giving an oral history “when he was in his 80s.”

Warren Settles Whatley Sr., 92, of Atlanta died Thursday at Emory Crawford Long Hospital. The funeral is 11 a.m. today at Providence Missionary Baptist Church. Murray Brothers Funeral Home is handling arrangements.

Mr. Whatley learned carpentry and construction from his father. He used those skills to help pay his way through Fort Valley State University and Morehouse College. He received an athletic scholarship to play center on those schools’ football teams.

As World War II unfolded, Mr. Whatley did carpentry work on defense projects throughout the South. Relatives say he helped construct Tuskegee Army Airfield, which was used by the Tuskegee Airmen in Alabama, the country’s first squadron of black combat pilots. He was drafted into the Army after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. He earned a Victory Medal and two bronze stars, among other accolades.

The construction company he ran with his late brothers, Charles Whatley and Plemon Whatley Jr., left an imprint in Atlanta’s black and white sectors. The firm built the city’s first black private hospital, the now-defunct Harris Memorial Hospital. It built more than 250 homes and other structures, notably in Collier Heights, the black west Atlanta neighborhood that’s a nominee for the National Register of Historic Places.

“They were some of the first African-American contractors to go into commercial work,” said a nephew, Plemon El-Amin of Atlanta. “When it came to construction, there was nothing [Warren Whatley Sr.] could not build. He did it looking for perfection, and he pushed people to do it as professionally as possible.”

Other survivors include a son, Warren S. Whatley Jr.; a daughter, Paula W. Matabane; two sisters, Grace W. Hinds and Lucy Whatley, all of Atlanta; and four grandchildren.