John was adopted at a few weeks old but his real family has been found!

He is the son of Mark & Winifred (Beckham) Prosser- He has a brother John who lives in CT as well as 2 Nehews who are in CT and FL

John Whitesel may not be in history books, but he has created a legacy that will live on in museums, magazines and film.

The Queensbury animator, writer and technical illustrator died of cancer March 24. He was 43.

Whitesel’s wife, Dawn, said he was involved in over 1,000 projects in his career, ranging from making 3-D animations for local businesses; to writing, producing and animating a documentary; to his last endeavor, which gave him an international platform.

In November, Whitesel’s work was unveiled in the exhibit, “Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration,” at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

He collaborated with John Holderman, a retired senior systems engineer for the NASA Space Shuttle Program, on conceptual drawings for the Nautilus X, a multi-mission space exploration vehicle that was designed to travel to Mars.

Whitesel translated the work into a 12-foot-by-4-foot-high schematic installation at the exhibit, which is scheduled to run through August.

“John truly understood space environment and the essence of life in space. I suggested that he try to evoke the images that we had both seen in LIFE and Popular Science magazines when we were growing up with the Space-Race of the late ’50s, ’60’s and ’70s. The flavor of his work was close to realism, but backed off just enough so that it could also be educational and obvious to the viewing audience,” Holderman said. “That is what the museum wanted, and I believe they are very pleased with the mural that John created.”

Unfortunately, Whitesel never saw the finished product, as he became ill just before the exhibit opened.

He majored in art in college but never graduated, opting instead to teach himself through tutorials. He hand-drew designs on T-shirts and moved into building websites but wanted to learn more about digital design, which led to a fascination with animation that continued for 14 years, according to his wife.

“John loved his work. He didn’t care about the price he’d get for it, as he always went above and beyond,” Dawn said.

Whitesel was especially proud of his collaboration on “The Lost Radeau: North America’s Oldest Intact Warship,” with Peter Pepe of Pepe Productions and Bateaux Below Inc., a nonprofit that studies historic shipwrecks in Lake George.

The 2005 documentary discusses the history of the “Land Tortoise,” and its intentional sinking in 1758 by British soldiers to keep French forces and their Native American allies from plundering it. The DVD details the 1990 discovery of this National Landmark 107 feet below the surface of Lake George, and the efforts to complete an archaeological study of the ship.

Dawn said her husband typically “obsessed” about projects until they were done, and the documentary was no different. She humorously remembered a two-week period of sleepless nights and feeling the house shake as he worked to synchronize the animation with cannon fire.

“I would have to bang on the floor and tell him to turn the volume down. I’d go, ‘You can’t do that in the daytime?’” she said.

Pepe, who also partnered with Whitesel on two other documentaries, “Wooden Bones: The Sunken Fleet” and “Search for the Jefferson Davis,” said Whitesel could take a small amount of information and create “incredible” visuals.

“John had a way of creating animations that would cut away to let you see the inside of how something worked,” Pepe said. “We had people in the film festivals who asked us how we filmed these scenes. We had to laugh because they weren’t real scenes; they were computer animations but they were so photo-realistic they’d fool you.”

John was an “exquisite talent” and will be missed, Pepe added.

John R Whitesel, 43, of Queensbury passed away Saturday March 24, 2012·

John R Whitesel, 43, of Queensbury passed away Saturday March 24, 2012 at Albany Medical Center with his loving family by his side after a courageous battle with cancer. He was born in Carmel, NY on May 2, 1968. He was the son of Frederick and Mary (Bice) Whitesel. He was the beloved husband of Dawn (Timberlin) Whitesel and loving Father to Zachery Timberlin and Tyler Whitesel.

He was a very talented musician and artist. Throughout his life he played keyboards and sang with several local bands. He also composed and recorded music throughout his life resulting in the making of several CDs in various types of music, rock music being his favorite.

He worked as a 3D Animator.  Some of his work was shown in museums such as the Smithsonian and the American Museum of Natural History as well as various magazines. He was involved in the making of several local historic documentaries including The Lost Radeau a documentary about a shipwreck in Lake George.

John loved the outdoors- hiking, boating , waterskiing and gardening, but most of all he loved spending time with his family and friends and his beloved pets. He was a charismatic fun loving caring man with a love of life.

He was loved by all

He is survived by his loving wife Dawn(Timberlin) Whitesel  of Queensbury, his son Zachery Timberlin of Bolton Landing, his son Tyler Whitesel of Queensbury  as well as his mother and father in law, 4 sisters in laws, 2 brothers in law, several nieces and nephews, aunts uncles and cousins and many special friends