“It’s just stuff. A lot of stuff,” said C.J. Whitney. The “stuff” Whitney is referring to is the Whitneys’ large collection of antiques, everything from license plates to antique cars, juke boxes to soda fountains. C.J. and Wilma Whitney love to show off the treasures stored on their 2.5-acre lot just west of Falcon.The Whitneys can’t recall exactly when they started their collection, but have certainly enjoyed watching it grow over the years.In 1966, they moved from Colorado Springs to their home on the prairie. “When we moved to Colorado Springs in 1958, Circle Drive was a dirt road, and there were about 48,000 people then,” said C.J. Whitney. Prior to moving to the prairies of Colorado, the Whitneys were not strangers to wide open spaces.Wilma Whitney, one of seven children, was born in Oklahoma but moved to Lakin, Kan., when she was 10 years old. It was there that she first met C.J. “He had bought a brand new red (1954) convertible,” said Wilma Whitney. “My girlfriend and I were walking down the street, and I said, ‘Look at that car; I’ve got to have a ride in it.'””So that’s why she married me. For the car,” C.J. Whitney said with a laugh.After graduating from Lakin High School in 1945, Wilma Whitney attended Northwestern State College in Alva, Okla., where she studied for one year. “Then I came back home, and the family I used to baby-sit for were on the school board, and they were looking for teachers for one-room school houses,” she said. For the next five years, Whitney taught school while attending Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kan.Meanwhile, C.J. Whitney graduated from Concordia High School in Concordia, Kan., in 1949. After high school, he took his first job working at a chemical company in Lakin. In 1951, he joined the Air Force where he did aircraft maintenance. That same year, he and Wilma married.Over the next four years, the Whitneys lived in various places from Canada to Alabama. Eventually, they started a family with two children, Barb and Jim. Wilma Whitney stayed at home while C.J. served in the Air Force.After four years, C.J. Whitney left the Air Force and went to aircraft mechanics school in California. In 1957, the Whitneys returned to Kansas where C.J. worked for his brother who had a crop dusting business. The following year, he began working for Colorado Interstate Gas Company as an aircraft mechanic.”I worked on the airplanes that flew all the big wigs around – all the executives,” said C.J. Whitney. He also did maintenance on all the planes that checked the pipelines for gas leaks. While he worked for CIG, Wilma Whitney volunteered and continued to stay at home. But instead of caring for two children, she was now looking after four. The Whitneys had two more daughters – Cathy and Jackie.When their children were older, Wilma Whitney and a friend opened Pixie Village, a small preschool. “We had it for about four years and then, when my first grandchild was born, I sold my half so that I could take care of her instead,” said Wilma Whitney. In 1978, she returned to college, along with her youngest daughter, at Pikes Peak Community College. “I also attended UCCS (University of Colorado at Colorado Springs),” she said. “I only took one class, but am proud to say that I went there.”C.J. Whitney continued to work for CIG and, after 33 years of service, retired in 1991. Shortly after, the Whitneys began to expand their antique collection. It’s grown so much over the last few years that they have even added on to their house. They said they have no intentions of quitting their hunt for “stuff.””We have a lot of people who will find things and give them to us because they think we would be interested in it,” said Wilma Whitney. It’s not unusual for the couple to open their doors to strangers who want to take a peek. “We have people come out here all the time,” she said. “They love to bring their families out, and each time they find something they missed the first time.”A little more about the WhitneysWhat are you reading?C.J.: I don’t have time to read. I like working in my garage. If I read, I’d fall asleep. Sometimes I read books about antique cars.Wilma: I read the Gazette everyday. I also read my hometown newspaper, the Lakin Independent, Guideposts, Reader’s Digest and Reminisce magazine.If you could change anything about Falcon, what would it be?Both: I would like to see it stop growing. It is getting too big.If you could change one aspect of your life, what would you change?Both: We didn’t make a lot of money, but all our kids have done well and our house has been paid for many years.Name one person you admire.C.J.: I’m not sure I admire anyone, but Johnny Carson is someone we enjoyed very much. We watched him every night.Wilma: Bill Bryan. He was the first permanent preacher at our church – Village Christian Church in Colorado Springs.
