Nick Whitlock packed a lot of living and accomplishments into his 29 years.
Six years after enlisting in the U.S. Air Force, he had risen to the rank of captain. Assigned to the 34th Special Operations Squadron headquartered at Camp Hurlburt in Florida, he had to his credit more than 800 combat-flight hours as a pilot or co-pilot during his five tours of overseas duty.
His mother, Clare Whitlock of Newnan, said Capt. Whitlock was deeply interested in flying from boyhood.
When he was 8 years old, she said, he received a meaningful gift from a friend of the Whitlock family, Adam Spitler of Savannah, who had just completed his studies at the Air Force Academy. Customarily at the close of each commencement exercise, graduating cadets toss their parade caps high in the air. At this particular event, Mr. Spitler retrieved his cap and gave it to young Nick Whitlock, who cherished it for years afterward.
Capt. Nicholas Shade Whitlock, who resided with his wife, Ashley Whitlock, in Destin, Fla., was killed Feb. 18 along with three Air Force comrades in a crash of their U-28A reconnaissance plane in Djibouti, a former French possession in the Horn of Africa.
Initial reports indicate the four were returning to a U.S. base in Djibouti from a surveillance mission over Afghanistan when their Swiss-manufactured, single-engine aircraft developed technical problems. A military board of inquiry is investigating the crash.
Capt. Whitlock’s funeral will be at 3 p.m. Sunday at the First Baptist Church of Newnan, A live telecast of the service will be available at the church’s website, www.fbcnewnan.org. Burial will follow at Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Higgins Hillcrest Chapel is in charge of arrangements.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Capt. Whitlock’s memory to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which gives financial help to severely wounded special-ops personnel and provides scholarships and counseling to children of fallen special-ops members. The foundation’s address is P.O. Box 13483, Tampa, FL 33681-3483.
Born and reared in Newnan, Capt. Whitlock attended school there and was an honor student and a standout football and baseball player. In his senior year, he won the school’s highest football honor, the Golden Helmet, for his prowess as an outside linebacker and for the good example he set off the field, said his brother, James Whitlock of Newnan.
A friend from childhood, John Goodrum of Houston, said Capt. Whitlock was relaxed and jovial by nature, but when it came to activities that mattered to him -- whether it was completing the requirements to become an Eagle Scout or school assignments -- he bore down on them with dedication.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from Mercer University and a master’s from the University of Florida, majoring in business administration in both cases. While at Mercer, he met Ashley Oddi, formerly of Savannah, and the two were wed in 2010.
Along with his brother James, Nick Whitlock was a volunteer in Healing Hearts, a nonprofit organization that provides hunting, fishing and other therapeutic outdoor experiences for disabled veterans. Last fall, the Whitlock brothers led three recuperating vets, all of them ambulatory, on a deer hunt near Reynolds.
James Whitlock said the hunt was videotaped for broadcast next autumn on O’Neill Williams’ show “O’Neill Outdoors,” seen on several cable networks.
Also surviving are his father, Jimmy Whitlock of Newnan; another brother, Robert Whitlock of Newnan; and his grandparents, Wendell and Alva Whitlock of Newnan and Henry and Clare Shade of Miami.
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