Dr. David Eugene Whisnant

What follows below is a brief version of the full illustrated obituary, which may be read at David’s Asheville Junction blog site at the following link:

https://ashevillejunction.com/david-e-whisnant-in-memoriam-july-16-1938-december-10-2024/

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Dr. David Eugene Whisnant – researcher, writer, teacher, blogger; builder and fixer; devoted husband and father; lifelong learner – died peacefully and gently at his home in Chapel Hill, NC, enfolded by beloved family, on December 10, 2024.

Having lived purposefully, joyfully, and completely each day of his 86+ years, he succumbed to an aggressive cancer that had – by its discovery on Thanksgiving Day – spread throughout his liver and sapped his legendary energy and stamina.  David seemed almost ageless to the end, and we who loved him are grateful for the time we shared with this multi-talented, brilliant, loving, intense Renaissance man.  His legacies will live in our heads, hearts, and hands forever.

Capturing David’s life in a straightforward narrative feels nearly impossible. Indeed, people who didn’t know him well may have struggled to understand how his diverse interests and dizzying array of activities hung together. But David saw the logic, following one project or passion as it led to another – as way led on to way.  Dismayed early on with “careerism,” he came to trust his own inner light and sought to learn what he needed, when he needed it.  He conceived of his life moving along what he called a “long vector” – borrowing a dynamic physics concept that describes both direction and speed of travel.

On the way, he emerged as a founding scholar of Appalachian Studies. But as devoted as he was to that enterprise, his work swirled around and beyond it as he authored, edited, or co-authored four books, four book-length National Park Service studies, and more than 80 articles and dozens of reviews spanning American literature; Appalachian history and culture; the politics of culture; cultural policy; Nicaraguan history and culture; traditional and country music; documentary film; history and politics of planned economic development; vernacular culture; folklife festivals; and public history and the National Parks. Employed on the faculty at three universities, he grew into a creative and provocative teacher and pursued robust public folklore (1970s/80s) and public history (2000s) side-hustles.

He served as a board member or consultant to numerous organizations and agencies including the Folklife Program of the Smithsonian Institution; Folk Arts Program of the National Endowment for the Arts; National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH); Maryland Arts Council; William King Regional Arts Center; Appalachian Center of the University of Kentucky; Program on Culture and National Identity, East-West Center; Foxfire Fund; Virginia Commission on the Humanities; American Folklore Society; Highlander Research and Education Center, and many university presses and scholarly journals.

He won fellowships and awards from the NEH, Rockefeller Foundation, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, American Folklore Society, North Carolina Folklore Society, the Appalachian Studies Association, and the National Council on Public History.

The accomplishments recited above and on his CV, however, reflect only a part of who David was.  Indeed, he would have resisted attempts to reduce his life to what could be listed on his vitae . Beyond these accomplishments, he ventured into social work and blogging, studied music seriously, and achieved a level of skill as a craftsman and woodworker superior to many who focus solely upon developing those capabilities.  He was undaunted by ambitious projects and could do almost anything he set his mind to.

He sang in a beautiful baritone everything from “O Holy Night” (in a tux at Duke Chapel) to Earl Bolick’s lower harmony parts of numerous Blue Sky Boys songs that he and wife Anne learned as they drove the backroads of the southeast.  He played violin (badly) and saxophone (better); clogged and danced a graceful waltz and two-step; built furniture and musical instruments; did math in his head; renovated several houses; wielded a mean chain saw; made delicious granola, cornbread, vegetable soup, carrot cake, and rum balls; water skied (usually on a single ski) into his 70s and cycled and kayaked into his 80s.  He loved Madame Butterfly and Merle Haggard.  He frequently observed that “all bags are mixed,” but also that “everything is subject to modification.”

He could be tough, outspoken, and fearless – by some accounts, even “intimidating.”  He was a persistent and unrelenting critical thinker who spoke (and wrote) his mind and suffered few fools.  Woe awaited a mechanic who charged $80 for a simple van cabin air filter change, a school principal who unjustly accused one of his sons of wrongdoing, or a scholar or filmmaker making facile and unsupportable generalizations about country music or Appalachia.

Yet his ability to gently talk various clerks, store managers, and customer service representatives into making (often quite generous, even lucrative!) accommodations for disappointing products, hotel rooms, restaurant food, or professional services was legendary.  He genuinely enjoyed chatting and joking with people he met as he ran his errands, and respected people with manual skills.  He was a tender, caring, kind, and loyal son, husband, parent, sibling, cousin, colleague, mentor, and friend.

Survivors and Celebration of Life

David was preceded in death by his parents, his in-laws Drs. Joseph and Norma Mitchell, and his sister-in-law Elaine Sanford Whisnant.  He is is survived by his wife of 29 years, Dr. Anne Virginia Mitchell Whisnant (Chapel Hill); his son Evan David Whisnant and spouse Rachel Elizabeth Hoben (Graham, NC); son Derek Taylor Whisnant (Asheville, NC); daughter Dr. Rebecca Suzanne Whisnant, partner Robin Einzig, and granddaughter Maria Grace Whisnant (Dayton, OH); daughter Beverly Shannon (Baltimore, MD); brothers Dr. Richard A. Whisnant (Cary, NC), Dr. Norman E. Whisnant (Greenville, SC), and Dr. John K. Whisnant, Jr. and wife Nora Whisnant (Wilmington, DE).

He is also survived by his first cousins Jean Johnson and Sara Margaret McGinnis (Asheville) and many beloved nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews, and cousins on the Whisnant side.  On his wife Anne’s side, he is survived by Anne’s many cousins, among whom he especially treasured JoRhea and David Ford, Anne and Dallas Stamper, Jesi and Paul (Hawg) Trentham, Marty Mitchell and Howard Roe, Joe and Cindy Mitchell, and Amanda and Nelson Wagner.

A celebration of David’s life will be held on Sunday, April 6, 2025 at the Honeysuckle Tea House (8871 Pickards Meadow Rd, Chapel Hill, NC 27516).  The event will start at 3:00 pm with an informal gathering, then a formal remembrance at 4:00, and dinner, drinks, and fellowship to follow.

All of David and Anne’s friends, family, and colleagues are invited and welcome.  To help with our planning, if you are able to join us, please let us know here: https://forms.gle/SVfKfPPA31PWoNHKA .

The family suggests that gifts in David’s memory be made to the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation ( https://www.brpfoundation.org/ ) or the Triangle Land Conservancy ( https://triangleland.org/ ).