Randolph W. Whaples was born in Newington, Connecticut in 1902 and attended New Britain High School . He and his wife, Beatrice C. H. Whaples, graduated from Connecticut Agricultural College in 1927. After graduation, Whaples was employed as New London County's first full-time 4-H Club agent. In 1935, he took a similar post in Hartford County. From 1948 until 1959, Mr. Whaples administered the University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension Service for 4-H youth programs as state 4-H leader. During World War II, he was farm labor supervisor in Hartford County in charge of recruiting personnel for wartime farm labor. From 1944 through 1946, Whaples was the area representative for the United States Department of Agriculture War Food Administration program in New England and later New York. After his retirement in 1959, he became a rural youth leader for the Agency for International Development Program in Ceylon . He also helped establish 4-H programs in Iran, Taiwan, and the Philippines . He was also a youth advisor in Uganda .
A long-time resident of Mansfield, Mr. Whaples was a deacon at the Storrs Congregational Church and a member of the Mansfield Planning and Zoning Commission. He died at home at the age of 72 in 1974.
Mrs. Whaples returned to the University of Connecticut in the mid 1950s and was awarded an M.S. degree in 1957.
From the guide to the Randolph W. and Beatrice H. Whaples Papers., undated, 1923-1957., (Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Center.)
