Editing Charles Whitman (section)

===Marriage===
[[File:Wedding Photo of Charles and Kathleen Leissner Whitman.jpg|160px|thumb|Whitman and Leissner at their wedding in 1962]]
In February 1962, 20-year-old Whitman met Kathleen Frances Leissner, an education major three years his junior.<ref name="Lavergne 1997 11–12">{{harv|Lavergne|1997|pp=11–12}}</ref> Leissner was Whitman's first serious girlfriend; he briefly dated actress [[Deanna Dunagan]] just prior to beginning his relationship with Leissner.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://observer.com/2017/09/interview-deanna-dunagan-on-playing-yet-another-unlovable-mother-in-the-treasurer/|title=Deanna Dunagan on Playing Yet Another Unlovable Mother|author=Harry Haun|date=September 29, 2017|work=[[The New York Observer]]|access-date=September 18, 2021|archive-date=September 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210918220827/https://observer.com/2017/09/interview-deanna-dunagan-on-playing-yet-another-unlovable-mother-in-the-treasurer/|url-status=live}}</ref> They courted for five months before announcing their engagement on July 19.<ref name="Lavergne 1997 11–12"/>

On August 17, 1962, Whitman and Leissner were married in a Catholic ceremony held in Leissner's hometown of [[Needville, Texas]].<ref name=freelance>
{{cite news|title=Profile of a Sniper: Easygoing and Cheerful|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IflNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1019,6416474|newspaper=The Free Lance-Star|date=August 2, 1966|page=2|access-date=2015-11-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151209004712/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IflNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bIsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1019,6416474&dq=leissner+charles+whitman&hl=en|archive-date=2015-12-09|url-status=live}}</ref> The couple chose the 22nd wedding anniversary of Whitman's parents as the date for their wedding.<ref name="Mass Murderers' p. 46"/> Whitman's family drove from Florida to attend the event, and his younger brother Patrick served as [[best man]]. Father Leduc, a Whitman family friend, presided over the ceremony. Leissner's family and friends approved of her choice of husband, describing Whitman as a "handsome young man" who was both intelligent and aspirational.<ref>{{harv|Lavergne|1997|p=12}}</ref>

Although Whitman's grades improved somewhat during his second and third semesters, the Marines considered them insufficient for continuation of his scholarship. He was ordered to active duty in February 1963<ref>
[http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fwh42 "Handbook of Texas Online."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130311035028/http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fwh42 |date=2013-03-11 }} tshanonline.com. Retrieved: November 2, 2010.
</ref> and went to [[Camp Lejeune]] in [[North Carolina]], for the remainder of his five-year enlistment.<ref>{{harv|Mayo|2008|p=372}}</ref>