Walton N. Whittaker was given a camera as a Christmas gift in 1959 and hasn't looked back since. He was graduated from West Virginia University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism and from Baker University with a master's in business communications. He plied his trade at the Kansas City Star and Times for 10 years, edited newspapers and magazines in the Kansas City area and taught journalism, photography and public relations in the Naval Reserve for 24 years. He and his wife Sally and three feline companions-- George, Gracie and Osiris-- are retired and live amidst the fabled Sally's Gardens in Gladstone, Missouri.