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- Brainerd Dispatch
November 26, 2017
Florence Whitman-Pikula-McCarthy after a long battle with cancer went peacefully to God during her sleep early in the morning of September 21st, 2017 at the home of her only child, Sam Pikula in Fountain Hills, Arizona.
Born in Pipestone Minnesota and the child of Gordon and Mabel Whitman, Florence moved to Brainerd as a young child with her brothers Leo and Jim Whitman and graduated from Washington High School with honors.
In 1956 she married Simon Jerome Pikula, a U.S. Army veteran and hardworking lineman with the Rural Electric Association in Crow Wing County. Later they personally built two homes on Riverside Drive which still stand. Florence began working for St. Joseph's Hospital as an administrative secretary and was later promoted to Public Relations Coordinator. Florence was also a key member of the Brainerd "Save the Water Tower" organization, John Birch Society, and stop fluoride in the water movement.
In March of 1969, after a long bout with cancer, her husband Simon died of cancer at St. Joseph's Hospital and was buried in the family plot at Evergreen Cemetery.
In December of 1970 Florence married George A. McCarthy of Detroit Lakes, Minnesota.
Subsequently the couple moved to Scottsdale, Arizona in 1972. A free-spirited person continually in a quest to improve herself, Florence began to attend classes at Arizona State University and earned an undergraduate and master's degree in history with a perfect 4.0 grade point average. In 1985 George McCarthy was removed from this realm with a massive heart attack thus leaving Florence a widow for the second time. In order to pay off large debts incurred by George McCarthy ("et secures fuerit vir bonus") , Florence began to teach classes at Scottsdale Community College, in Scottsdale, Arizona and then taught English classes overseas. First in schools located in Mersin, Turkey, then Antakya, Turkey, Florence was a passionate and dedicated teacher devoted to improving the knowledge of the students in her charge. Later, Florence taught at Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates before finally returning to her home in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1995. Above all else Florence loved to travel and meet new people who more often than not become old friends. During her life she visited dozens of countries such as Spain, Germany, Vietnam, India, Mexico, Ireland, Russia, Bulgaria, Nepal, Hungary, Jordan, Thailand, Indonesia, Morocco, and China to name just a few. Florence was also a passionate defender of both Christians and Palestinians in the Middle East. In her later years Florence led a quiet reflective life but at the age of 72 still had the drive and stamina to visit India by herself. Florence was a member of numerous organizations such as the Society for International Development, Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Theta Kappa, Alpha Mu Gamma, Organization of Arizonans Supporting Islamic Studies, Daughters of Isabella, and the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
She is survived by her brother Leo Whitman, his wife Rosie, her only son Sam Pikula and his wife Ginny, and her very best friend to the end, "Sadie", her Jack Russell terrier.
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1936 - 2017 (81 years)
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