Gee Whetsel is joining the Chronicle-Independent team while continuing her duties as editor of Camden Media Co.’s Lee County Observer. Beginning today, Whetsel will attend and report on Kershaw County Council and Kershaw County Board of School Trustees meetings for the C-I. She will join the C-I as Camden Media Co. Senior Writer.
Whetsel is a life-long resident of Lee County with more than 35 years of experience in journalism. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English and began her career as the editor of the Lee County Messenger in 1982. She also worked at the Sumter News and The Sumter Item, and taught English on the high school and college level for many years.
Whetsel has covered every type of community news from school board, city and county councils; politics; human interest features; and much more. She has earned numerous awards for her writing and reporting from the S.C. Press Association.
She and her husband, Dr. Carl Whetsel, reside in Bishopville. They have five children between them. One son, Dustin, is an attorney with the solicitor’s office in Beaufort. The other, Cody, is an attorney in Athens, Ga. Their three daughters are Dabnee, a registered nurse with Palmetto Health Baptist; Jordan, a registered nurse with McLeod Regional Medical Center; and Haley, a paralegal with Ogletree Deakins in Greenville.