Richard Spice Wheeler

FORMER UTICA, NEW YORK RESIDENT RICHARD SPICE WHEELER, 70 YEARS OLD, DIED AT HIS HOME IN EUSTIS, FLORIDA. HE HAD BEEN A FLORIDA RESIDENT SINCE 1983 AND WAS AN ATTORNEY BY PROFESSION, BUT HIS PASSIONS WERE AMERICAN HISTORY (ESPECIALLY THE CIVIL WAR) AND WHEELER FAMILY GENEALOGY. BORN JUNE 22, 1946, IN UTICA, HE WAS THE EIGHTH OF NINE CHILDREN OF EVERETT JESSE WHEELER SR. AND MARJORIE ELIZABETH SPICE WHO RAISED ALL THEIR CHILDREN IN THE SAME HOUSE AT 72 PROSPECT STREET. LIKE ALL HIS SIBLINGS, RICHARD ATTTENDED JOHN F. HUGHES SCHOOL AND UTICA FREE ACADEMY, GRADUATING IN 1964. IN 1968 RICHARD RECEIVED A BATCHELOR'S DEGREE FROM COLGATE UNIVERSITY, HIS FATHER'S ALMA MATER, AND IN 1971 A JURIS DOCTOR DEGREE FROM ALBANY LAW SCHOOL OF UNION UNIVERSITY, WHERE HE WAS AN EDITOR OF THE LAW REVIEW. AFTER GRADUATING FROM LAW SCHOOL AND PASSING THE NEW YORK BAR, RICHARD SERVED A 2-YEAR APPOINTMENT AS CONFIDENTIAL LAW ASSISTANT TO THE NINE JUSTICES OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION, FOURTH DEPARTMENT, OF THE NEW YORK STATE SUPREME COURT IN ROCHESTER, N. Y. FROM 1973-93, RICHARD ALTERNATED BETWEEN PRIVATE PRACTICE IN LARGE LAW FIRMS AND SERVICE IN THE IN-HOUSE LAW DEPARTMENTS OF LARGE CORPORATIONS. FROM 1982-87, HE PRACTICED LAW WITH FLORIDA'S LARGEST LAW FIRM, HOLLAND & KNIGHT, IN WASHINGTON, DC, ORLANDO, MIAMI AND TAMPA, BEFORE JOINING THE IN-HOUSE LEGAL STAFF AT HOME SHOPPING NETWORK, INC., IN CLEARWATER, FL. SINCE JUNE 1993, RICHARD CONDUCTED A SOLO PRACTICE OF TAX, CORPORATE AND ESTATE PLANNING IN THE ORLANDO, FL, AREA. RICHARD IS SURVIVED BY TWO SONS, ANDREW COLIN WHEELER AND HIS WIFE CHRISTINE AND THEIR TWO CHILDREN ALEXANDER CURTIS WHEELER AND NICHOLAS RICHARD WHEELER OF POMPTON LAKES, NJ AND DANIEL ETHAN WHEELER OF OREGON. RICHARD WAS PREDECEASED BY HIS FATHER IN 1978, BY HIS MOTHER IN 1982, BY HIS OLDEST BROTHER EVERETT JESSE WHEELER JR. OF CANTON, CT, ALSO IN 1982, BY HIS BROTHER ROBERT BRADFORD WHEELER, OF WHITESBORO, NY, IN 2016 AND BY HIS SISTERS NANCY LEE WHEELER LAWTON OF FAIRPORT, NY, IN 1997 AND GRACE ELIZABETH WHEELER THOMSON OF HUDSON FALLS, NY, IN 2006. HE IS SURVIVED BY TWO BROTHERS, THE REV. WILLIAM RAMSEY (DARLENE) WHEELER OF BOONVILLE, NY AND JON HAROLD (COLLEEN) WHEELER OF JACKSONVILLE, FL, AND TWO SISTERS, MARJORIE ANN WHEELER (BRUCE F.) LARLEE OF ISLAND FALLS, ME, AND ELLEN KAY WHEELER (MRS. JAMES R. WINTER) OF FAIRPORT, NY, BY 22 NIECES AND NEPHEWS, BY 38 GRAND-NIECES AND NEPHEWS. RICHARD TRACED HIS WHEELER LINEAGE ALL THE WAY BACK TO OBADIAH WHEELER WHO HAD BEEN BORN IN 1609 IN CRANFIELD, BEDFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND AND WHO DIED IN 1671 IN CONCORD, MASS. RICHARD WAS ALSO A 10TH GENERATION DIRECT DESCENDENT OF RESOLVED WHITE, WHO AT THE AGE OF 5, ALONG WITH HIS PARENTS WILLIAM AND SUSANNA WHITE, WERE ABOARD THE MAYFLOWER IN 1620. RICHARD WAS A MEMBER OF THE MAYFLOWER SOCIETY AND JAMESTOWNE SOCIETY. HE WAS ONE OF THE ORIGINAL MEMBERS OF THE PILGRIM WILLIAM WHITE SOCETY PROVIDING LEGAL GUIDANCE AND SERVING AS THE ORIGINAL EDITOR OF THEIR NEWS LETTER. HE WAS ACTIVE IN THE SOCIETY OF MAYFLOWER DESCENDENTS IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA (FSMD) SERVING AS GOVERNOR OF THE RICHARD WARREN COLONY, AS EDITOR OF THE FSMD NEWSLETTER THE FLORIDA PILGRIM AND AS FSMD COUNSELLOR AND PR CHAIR. IN HIS LATER YEARS, RICHARD HAD EDITED AND PUBLISHED SEVERAL VOLUMES OF WHEELER FAMILY HISTORY, INCLUDIING THE BOUND VOLUME, "ADIRONDACK LIFE: THE BOYHOOD JOURNALS OF EVERETT JESSE WHEELER OF BOONVILLE", WHICH IS IN THE PERMANENT COLLECTION OF THE ERWIN LIBRARY IN BOONVILLE AND OF THE ONEIDA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY IN UTICA. WITH HIS BROTHER JON, HE HAD ALSO TRACED THE HISTORY OF THE WHEELER'S "OLD HOMESTEAD FARM" IN LYONSDALE BACK TO THEIR GREAT-GRANDFATHER WILLIAM SIPPELL WHEELER'S PURCHASE OF THAT PROPERTY IN 1861 AND HAD WRITTEN AND PUBLISHED BIOGRAPHIES OF THEIR GRANDFATHER JESSE JOHN WHEELER (1867-1946) AND GREAT-GRANDFATHER WILLIAM SIPPELL WHEELER (1811-1893). RICHARD WAS A LIFELONG EPISCOPALIAN ATTENDING ST. THOMAS EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN EUSTIS, FLORIDA AND WHEN GROWING UP IN UTICA ATTENDING GRACE EPISCOPAL CHURCH. HE WAS A DEVOUT GOD-FEARING MAN WHO TRIED TO LIVE EACH DAY OF HIS LIFE AS A TRUE CHRISTIAN. HE WAS ALSO A LIFELONG NY GIANTS FOOTBALL FAN AND USED TO REMIND PACKER FANS THAT VINCE LOMBARDI STARTED HIS PROFESSIONAL COACHING CAREER IN THE 1950'S AS AN ASSISTANT UNDER JIM LEE HOWELL WITH THE GIANTS. RICHARD'S FAVORITE SAYING WAS ONE OF LOMBARDI'S BEST QUOTES: "PERFECTION IS NOT ATTAINABLE. BUT IF WE CHASE PERFECTION WE CAN CATCH EXCELLENCE." THAT'S HOW RICHARD TRIED TO LIVE HIS LIFE … ONLY GOD CAN NOW JUDGE HOW WELL HE SUCCEEDED. AT RICHARD'S REQUEST, THERE ARE NO CALLING HOURS AND A PRIVATE MEMORIAL SERVICE WILL BE HELD AT THE CONVENIENCE OF THE FAMILY. RICHARD'S ASHES WILL BE INTERRED AT THE J. J. WHEELER PLOT AT THE BOONVILLE CEMETERY WITH TRAINOR FUNERAL HOME, INC. OF BOONVILLE BEING IN CHARGE OF ARRANGEMENTS.