Stan’s father was a career Air Force pilot, so Stan grew up on military bases, living in Alabama, the Philippines, Georgia, North Carolina, and Hawaii. He attended eleven different schools in twelve years and changed schools fifteen times in those twelve years. After his father retired from the service, the family settled in Durham, North Carolina, his mother’s home.

Stan studied English literature and creative writing at Duke and graduated in 1971. Following his undergraduate degree, Stan spent six years at the Durham County Department of Social Services, where he worked with elderly and disabled adults, and met his wife Sally Hunter, a recent graduate of the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Stan and Sally were married in 1976, just before their move to Louisville for Stan to attend Law School at the University of Louisville. In Louisville, Sally worked at Seven Counties Services, Family and Children’s Counseling Centers, and most recently at Consultants in Blood Disorders and Cancer. Today, Sally is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in private practice.

Upon his admission to practice in Kentucky in 1981, Stan accepted an associate lawyer position at a small Louisville firm with a substantial trial practice. He became a partner there in 1987 and practiced until the firm dissolved in 1998. Stan handled a wide range of cases, most of which involved civil litigation and appellate practice. In addition to garden-variety matters involving torts, contracts, property, decedent’s estates, and administrative law matters, Stan expanded his range into broker-dealer securities and “blue sky” fraud litigation, defended banks in lender liability cases, and represented the state in eminent domain cases. Stan practiced independently from 1998 to 2003, when he returned to law firm practice. On January 1, 2022, Stan opened his present firm, Whetzelatlaw PLLC.

Stan chaired the Louisville Bar Association’s Appellate Practice Section from 1990-92 and 2000-01. He served on its Member Services Committee, the Kentucky Lawyer Referral Service, and participated in various volunteer lawyer efforts. For the LBA, Stan organized several appellate practice programs and spoke in others. In some well-received appellate practice programs, registrants interacted with sitting appellate judges. In another, registrants composed appellate-writing specimens that were then critiqued by University of Louisville English professors. In 1992, Stan accepted for the Appellate Practice Section the LBA’s Section of the Year award.

As part of his service to the LBA, Stan wrote an article titled “CR 77.04: The Harshest Rule,” which was published by the LBA in its Bar Briefs newsletter. The Rule amounts to a pitfall for the unwary practitioner. You can read the article here. In 2013, Stan prepared and presented for NBI a discussion of the law relative to landowner challenges to governmental eminent domain takings. His presentation addressed the overarching “right to take” issue, questions of necessity, bad faith, and abuse of discretion, “public purpose” versus “public use” takings, “blight” analysis, inverse condemnation, and regulatory takings under state and federal law. You can read the article here.

Kentucky Civil Liberties Union, the St. Jude Guild, & Glade House

In the middle 1980s, as the general public became increasingly aware of and fearful of AIDS and the HIV virus, Stan realized that the disease threatened us all. The public’s understanding of the virus and how it was transmitted was negligible. Persons even remotely suspected of being infected were ostracized by their colleagues and co-workers, and many by their own families. Those already sick lost or left their jobs, and often became homeless. Stan decided to work with the newly-formed AIDS Task Force of the Kentucky Civil Liberties Union. He became a resource on the developing law of AIDS/HIV and its interplay with individual rights and responsibilities, public health policy, and equal justice. Over the years, Stan volunteered his services to the Legal Panel, and served as a Cooperating Attorney in First Amendment matters.

Stan was invited by a committee of St. Martin of Tours Church and its pastor, The Rev. Vernon Robertson, to organize The St. Jude Guild, Inc., a charitable entity devoted to fund-raising for persons living with AIDS/HIV. Because of Stan’s pro bono legal work, he was able to secure Section 501(c)(3) federal tax-exempt status for the Guild. The Guild’s exclusive purpose was to secure resources and raise funds to support destitute persons living with AIDS/HIV. The Guild raised and channeled funds, goods, and necessaries to benefit residents of the Glade House, a respite facility for people living with AIDS/HIV. When the Guild ceased its existence, it transferred its assets to Glade House’s parent, the Community Health Trust, Inc.

The de Paul School

He served as a Trustee of The de Paul School from 2003-13 and was the chair or a member of its Academic Affairs, Resource Management, Marketing, Strategic Planning, and Executive committees.

Rotary Club of Louisville

Stan has been an active member of the Rotary Club of Louisville, Inc. (the Downtown club) since 2001. He has chaired two committees, SPARKS and Rotaract/Interact, and currently serves on the Archive committee.

Bonnycastle Homestead Association

For many years, Stan has served on the board of his neighborhood association, the Bonnycastle Homestead Association, including multiple terms as its President. He served on the BHA’s original Neighborhood Plan Committee and its Developer Negotiations Task Force. He currently serves on its new Neighborhood Plan Committee. Stan also is a member of the Eighth District Advisory Board that was originated by a previous Metro Council representative to the Highlands neighborhoods.

The Episcopal Church of the Advent

Since 1985, Stan has served multiple terms as Senior Warden, Vestry Clerk, and member of the Church of the Advent’s vestry. He has chaired multiple pastoral search committees, served on its task forces, and chaired its Roof Restoration Committee. In 1989, Stan accepted for the Church of the Advent a Preservation Award from the Preservation Alliance for the church’s successful restoration of its 110-year-old slate roof. At present, Stan sings in the Advent choir and serves as a lay Eucharistic minister and chalicist.

Duke University Alumni Advisory Admissions Committee

Stan has chaired the Duke University Alumni Advisory Admissions Committee for the Louisville and Southern Indiana areas since 1998. He has helped represent Duke at local college fairs, and he has interviewed applicants for admission since 1986.