October 3, 1994
Father William Wheeler
Father Wheeler was born in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland on December 17, 1910. After attending Mount Mellaray Seminary in Ireland he was ordained for the Diocese of Galloway, Scotland on December 19, 1936. During World War II he served as a chaplain in the British Army and was present at the Battle of Dunkirk in France. In 1948 he moved to Canada and worked in retreat and prison ministry before coming to the Diocese of Wichita in 1955. As an assistant he was assigned to All Saints Parish, Wichita and St. Patrick’s Parish, Parsons and later was a chaplain at the St. Joseph Home in El Dorado with Burns as a mission; a chaplain at St. Elizabeth Hospital and at the state reformatory in Hutchinson; and as pastor at Girard, at Holy Cross in Hutchinson, Harper, and Danville. In 1985 he retired and moved to Joplin. Father Wheeler died on October 3, 1994 and his funeral Mass was celebrated at Immaculate Conception Parish in Danville where he was buried in the Danville Cemetery.