Russell H. Whitney, Sr., 91, of Middlebury passed away on May 20, 2008 at Porter Medical Center. Russell was born December 19, 1916 in Salisbury, Vermont, the 8th of 10 children to Fred C. and Lizzie B. (Vincent) Whitney. He grew up in and attended schools in Salisbury. On November 18, 1944, he married Ernestine Tyrrell and together they raised four children. She pre deceased him on January 6, 1991. He was a farmer for a big part of his life, first with cattle and then with chickens. After a fire destroyed his chicken operation in 1964, he moved onto other occupations including driving truck, working at the Weyhouser Plywood Company in Hancock ant at Simmonds Precision. In the 1970s, he took a job at Middlebury College taking care of the lab animals and retired from there. Never one to sit around, he volunteered his time to take care of the West Side Cemetery in Salisbury until his health would no longer allow him to continue. Russell was an avid hunter and trapper. As a believer in natural remedies, he spent many hours in the woods searching for Ginseng. He is survived by his two daughters and their husbands, Janice and Donald Fisher of Starksboro, and Susan and Thomas Record of Cornwall, a son Michael Whitney of Salisbury, a granddaughter and her husband, Jennifer and Timothy Lavigne, a grandson, Justin Whitney and a very special great-granddaughter, Gillian Lavigne. Besides his wife, he was a predeceased by a son, Russell Whitney, Jr, in 2005, a grandson in 1979, seven brothers, Arthur, Norman, Clarence, Robert, Herbert, John and Howard, and two sisters, Viola MacIntyre and Helen Wimett. Family and friends are invited for calling hours on Saturday May 24th from 10 to 11 am, with the service immediately following at Sandersons Funeral Home 117 South Main Street Middlebury, VT. Burial will follow at West Side Cemetery in Salisbury. In lieu of flowers donations in Russells memory may be made to the West Side Cemetery Association, c/o Susan Record, 216 Delong Road, Cornwall, VT 05753.