Charles 'Bill' William Wheeler  1923-2007

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Note to award program judges I am aware that there must be a way to turn off music on a page and I know how to do such but in honor of my dad I have selected for the song to play. This is in his memory and if you must disqualify me for this I understand. His memory is more important to me than any award.   This song we sang together when I was 9 years old. And that is what he did, Jesus Christ called him that day to his home far away and there dad did  exchange it for a crown.  Thank you for your understanding for this page is a tribute to a legacy. So often I am asked, Dan why don't you sell your programs?  I guess how can you sell something that is a gift?  And like the gift of music that I share with the world, God gave me a gift to share for a time of 84 years, my dad. Thank you Lord I praise your name in all things!

To be like Jesus, and tell people about the Kingdom of God, to reach out to the lost with compassion, to help those in need. To do as the Bible says in 1 Peter 2:21 That he Jesus ” left you an example, that you should follow in his steps “. To follow in the footsteps of Jesus, and to be like him, is all that I desire. These are the words of one of my dad's favorite songs...to be like Jesus, now he is with him.

 Dan and Dad at a local Fair

I was blessed with a dad that supported me, and the gift of music, a dad that would hug me and my children, that  sang songs with me in my youth about the love of God and Salvation. A dad who drove me around long before I could drive, carrying the Hammond organ and leslie speaker in his truck. To the man who taught me so much about life, who I loved, I worked with, and was my friend. Who taught me about real compassion for others in the way he 'shared' his life.   Several weeks before his passing my mother gave me a box of old reel to reel tapes that were falling apart. Within those tapes were recording's I never knew that he recorded. Of songs we sang together, More like Jesus, Will there be any stars in my crown, Jimmy Brown the newsboy, and together we sang "the old rugged cross. There were tapes of my early years on the radio, concerts I played.  God had protected them all these years for this moment in time. God left me a part of heaven he took back to himself, the voice of my dad.

 I hear his voice singing within my heart as I listen to the old tapes when I was 9 years old that God protected and gave them to me of dad and I singing together. I will  cherish all the days of my life here on earth. Thank you Lord for such a gift to me, and my children. He will be sadly missed, and my tears will never dry from my eyes. Not tear's of sorrow, but tears of joy, and thanksgiving. His legacy lives within our hearts, and everytime I kiss my boys and hug them I will remember all the times we shared, and especially the last hug he gave me a few days before he recieved his total healing, home with our Lord.  Though alzheimer's  might have took his mind, it could not take his love for his God and his family. 

Several week before my dad's passing we were in the garden at the Home of the Good Shepherd Nursing Home and it amazed me that my dad just kept watching a white butterfly flying all around. Then on the day that we placed him in the grave, a white butterfly flew down and accross his coffin and up into the woods. After I gave a short message over the grave to my son's . God's beauty is far beyond our understanding, and the little things He sends us for comfort are as that of a white butterfly in the close of the chapter in ones life begins a new book.  You see God does send us the little things, that make a difference, if we only open our eyes to such things. Praise God!

Charles W. Wheeler

WHEELER, Charles W. “Bill,” 84, of G C & P Road, Wheeling, W.Va. went home to be with the Lord Jesus Christ on , September 15, 2007, in the Good Shepherd Nursing Home, Wheeling.
He was a Christian born in Wheeling, on August 28, 1923, the son of the late William McKinley Wheeler and Lily Mae Watson Wheeler. Mr. Wheeler was retired from the former Reichart’s Furniture Company in Wheeling; and a member of Greggsville United Methodist Church in Wheeling.He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II at Homestead Airbase and in the Alaskan Division. He taught chemical warfare during his time in the Army. He was a member of the West Alexander American Legion.In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a brother, James Wheeler.Surviving are his wife of 64 years, Arlene Mae Bright Wheeler; four sons, Frank Wheeler and his wife, Linda, David Wheeler and his wife, Gloria, Daniel Wheeler and Mark Wheeler and his wife, Patty, all of Wheeling; 11 grandchildren; 12 great- grandchildren; three sisters, Mary Lee Verno, Icy Bippus, and Jean Kocher; and two brothers, Robert Wheeler and Jolly Wheeler.

Friends will be received on Monday, September 17, 2007 from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m., at the Kepner Funeral Home, National Road at Bethany Pike, Wheeling, where services will be held on Tuesday, September 18, 2007, at noon with the Reverend Judy Flynn officiating.
Interment in Park View Memorial Gardens, Wheeling.Memorial contributions may be made to Greggsville United Methodist Church or the Good Shepherd Nursing Home, 159 Edgington Lane, Wheeling, WV 26003.

All family and friends are invited to attend a luncheon at the Greggsville United Methodist Church after the funeral service.