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KTRK is reporting on the latest in an odd story out of Baytown involving a possibly loveless marriage, a family feud, millions of dollars and a lengthy court case. Wow, sounds a little like someone else we know, eh? But in its own way, the story of Perry "Bit" Whatley is even stranger.
First, some background: Whatley, 83, spent his career working at Exxon's Baytown refinery. He and his first wife, Florence, built up a $2.5 million fortune; they had no kids, so Whatley's niece and nephew were the beneficiaries of the estate. When Whatley's mother-in-law became ill in 1996, the couple hired Dawn Johnson to care for her. Then, after the mother-in-law died in 1999, Johnson began caring for Florence Whatley. Three months after Florence died, Johnson moved in with Whatley and the two were married in a secret ceremony in January 2005. (For the record, Whatley and Johnson's marriage isn't the May-December relationship Anna Nicole and J. Howard Marshall's was: He's 83 and she's in her early 60s, which we guess makes it more like October-December.)
One question in the relationship is why Whatley married Johnson. In November, she told KTRK that "We got married because I love him. I love him and he loves me." But Whatley has never really been that forthcoming: In an interview with The Boston Globe last fall, he allowed that "she makes my days brighter," but he told Channel 13 this week that "I guess I was more or less lonely. (It wasn't) necessarily (love). Maybe some." Ouch.
The other question — the bigger one, in Whatley's family's opinion — is why Johnson married Whatley. She said it was for love, but Jeanie Anderson and Robert Daniel Whatley, Perry Whatley's niece and nephew, claim she's just after his money. Last year, the relatives tried to get themselves named Whatley's guardians, and Perry and Dawn Whatley promptly jetted off to Boston (Anderson and Robert Whatley said it was to avoid legal proceedings here, but Dawn said it was to seek medical care for Perry). Instead of turning Whatley over to the care of his niece and nephew, a judge appointed lawyer Jimmy Walker as his guardian; not long afterward, court appointees showed up at Whatley's Boston nursing home and brought him back to Houston, but Dawn Whatley wasn't allowed to know where he was.
Fast-forward to today. After 12 months, the case has bounced from probate court to state appeals courts to federal court and now to another probate court. Whatley, who was stripped of his court-appointed guardian during an appeal, was ordered to appear in court here yesterday, but he didn't show; if his lawyers don't produce him next week, Judge Mike Wood said he would send deputies to bring Whatley to court "in chains." While all this has been going on, about $1 million of Whatley's estate has disappeared, KTRK reports. Robert Whatley told the Globe last year that Dawn had already cashed in a $500,000 annuity owned by his uncle: "We're concerned that at the rate money is spent, there's not going to be any money for him to be cared for in the not so distant future," he said. "We don't feel she has his best interest at heart. Quite frankly, she sees a payback at the end."
Dawn Whatley, of course, disagrees, saying she's doing it all for love. And Perry Whatley says his relatives are upset not because they're concerned about him, but because they're concerned about his money. "Relatives think they ought to come first. It's not always true," he told The Boston Globe. "I imagine they probably were humiliated to be set aside."
Now, with the potential for a forced court appearance ahead and Whatley's attorney accusing Wood of conspiring with someone — though it's not clear who — the judge said he's just going to try to get Whatley the care he needs and protect what's left of his fortune. Better him than us.
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