Billy House/Media General News Service
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WASHINGTON -- As he battled pancreatic cancer, Harvey Waite encouraged his wife to continue her race for a fourth two-year term to the U.S. House of Representatives.
“I want you to run,” he told his wife, U.S. Rep Ginny Brown-Waite. “I want you to win almost as much as I want to beat this cancer.”
On Tuesday, Harvey Waite died. He was 68.
In an interview with The Tampa Tribune in May, Brown-Waite said she had been wrestling with doing her duties in Washington and running for re-election after her husband's cancer diagnosis in February.
After he encouraged her to run, she told him: “I'll run if you fight hard to beat the cancer.”
Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville, represents the state's geographically huge 5th Congressional District, which is all of Hernando, Citrus and Sumter counties and parts of Pasco, Polk, Lake, Levy and Marion counties.
Harvey Waite was born on Long Island, N.Y. He served in the U.S. Army from 1958 to 1961, and returned to New York where he served as a state trooper. The couple were married in 1978.
Following his retirement from the state, he and his wife moved to Florida, eventually settling in Hernando County in 1995. He was active in several local organizations, and prior to his cancer diagnosis worked as an investigator in the Public Defenders Office.
According to the congresswoman's office, funeral services have been scheduled from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Friday at St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Brooksville, with a gathering afterward at Heffernan Hall adjacent to the church building.
Visitation is from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday at St. Anthony's. Flowers may be sent to the Turner Funeral Home, 504 E. Jefferson St., Brooksville.
Reporter Billy House can be reached a (202) 662-7673 or bhouse@mediageneral.com
“I want you to run,” he told his wife, U.S. Rep Ginny Brown-Waite. “I want you to win almost as much as I want to beat this cancer.”
On Tuesday, Harvey Waite died. He was 68.
In an interview with The Tampa Tribune in May, Brown-Waite said she had been wrestling with doing her duties in Washington and running for re-election after her husband's cancer diagnosis in February.
After he encouraged her to run, she told him: “I'll run if you fight hard to beat the cancer.”
Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville, represents the state's geographically huge 5th Congressional District, which is all of Hernando, Citrus and Sumter counties and parts of Pasco, Polk, Lake, Levy and Marion counties.
Harvey Waite was born on Long Island, N.Y. He served in the U.S. Army from 1958 to 1961, and returned to New York where he served as a state trooper. The couple were married in 1978.
Following his retirement from the state, he and his wife moved to Florida, eventually settling in Hernando County in 1995. He was active in several local organizations, and prior to his cancer diagnosis worked as an investigator in the Public Defenders Office.
According to the congresswoman's office, funeral services have been scheduled from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Friday at St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Brooksville, with a gathering afterward at Heffernan Hall adjacent to the church building.
Visitation is from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday at St. Anthony's. Flowers may be sent to the Turner Funeral Home, 504 E. Jefferson St., Brooksville.
Reporter Billy House can be reached a (202) 662-7673 or bhouse@mediageneral.com