PORT TOWNSEND — Through laughter and tears, about 1,000 people remembered Joseph F. Wheeler, founder of Centrum, with sweet memories of a devoted, compassionate family man who loved good wine, food, children and, of course, beautiful classical music and jazz.
It was the man friends called Joe, whose vision converted an old military blimp hangar into a showcase for the arts at Fort Worden State Park on Saturday.
It was at that former hangar that friends and family gathered to pay their respects to Dr. Wheeler, who died Nov. 2 at 77, just 10 days after learning he had cancer.
While he had retired from Centrum in 1995, he had still monitored its success, remaining as a board member, and aggressively raising funds for the nonprofit cener for the arts that he loved and had nurtured.
“He could never leave Centrum. He never left Centrum. It was clear that Centrum was in Joe’s DNA,” said former Centrum board president David Marriott, who fondly recalled Dr. Wheeler’s “great, broad smile that seemed to warm the room.”
Active after retirement
Dr. Wheeler served as Centrum’s first executive director from 1973 to 1995 and remained an active board member and fundraiser after his retirement.
Marriott said he knew Dr. Wheeler for 30 years and grew to love him as a friend.
Recalling how the hangar was transformed into an music hall, Marriott said Dr. Wheeler approached him, saying he had an idea “and I think we are going to have to spend a little money.”
Centrum’s concert facility then was a sometimes windblown tent near the old fort’s mule barn, a situation that slowed Centrum’s program expansion, Marriott said.
Wheeler had his eyes on the hangar.
“That thing was full of rust and there’s weeds growing through the floor,” Marriott said, recalling his reaction to Dr. Wheeler’s proposal.
Dr. Wheeler said an architect recommended a feasibility study, and that was why the money was needed.
The study determined that the proposal was feasible. McCurdy Pavilion is living proof of that today.
It was Dr. Wheeler who decided to pull out all the stops to raise money for the conversion, and Marriott said, “My last official act as Centrum president was to convert the hangar.”
Marriott said Dr. Wheeler was more than an idea guy, he also steered those ideas down the road.
“He was always looking at ideas and making them happened,” Marriott recalled. “It almost seemed like Joe could will things to get done.”
People energized him and he in turn energized them, Marriott said, with his warmth, tenacity and sincerity.
Son remembers father
Joseph F. Wheeler Jr. remembered his father as “the man whose name I proudly share” and one who was quick to speak proudly of his children and their accomplishments.
He called his father a fisherman “who wasn’t much of a catcher,” an avid supporter of Washington State University and a fourth-generation Washingtonian.
He was dearly loved and guided by his older sister, Joyce, who held Dr. Wheeler’s hand during his final breaths.
“He loved family and friends as deeply important,” Joseph Wheeler Jr. said.
After coming to Port Townsend with his family in the early 1970s “to turn an old fort into a music facility,” his son said, “I truly believed that Dad spent the rest of his life always helping people” to “better improve their lives.
“The town welcomed him with open arms, my whole family with open arms,” Joseph Wheeler Jr. recalled. “Right to the end, my dad was creating opportunities to let the arts flourish.”
Thatcher Bailey, who became Centrum director after Dr. Wheeler left, said his father pulled a few strings with Dr. Wheeler to get him an internship with Centrum.
“Joe was always a soft touch, especially with donors,” Bailey said, drawing laughs.
Joseph Wheeler Jr. said that Bailey and Wheeler grew close, and that his father considered Bailey to be his “third son.”
Bailey said he had trouble not believing that Dr. Wheeler was in the audience.
He recalled Dr. Wheeler frequently calling in for consultation.
“Joe was checking in,” Bailey said. “It was hardly urgent but it was important.”
Remarkable teacher
Bailey said Dr. Wheeler “had a way of turning my screw-ups into funny stories. He was a most remarkable teacher.
“Whatever my list of accomplishments, it begins after Joe.”
Bailey said Dr. Wheeler loved Port Townsend and was fast to pull out his checkbook in support of any caused or organization he believed in.
“He had this way with young people. He had this special rapport . . . he took us seriously,” Bailey said, adding that he taught people to listen to the young.
Bailey called his mentor “dogged and fearless” and who fought for his beliefs being “a master of cutting deals and playing angles.”
Cindy McBride, a patron of the arts in Port Townsend and Centrum board secretary, said Dr. Wheeler was the “older man” that a fortune teller once told her would come into her life.
She said he had pet names for her, including “Cinderella, Sunshine and Bob,” and was the man who got her to laugh at work before coffee in the morning by greeting her with a, “Good morning, Sunshine.”
“We laughed out loud at each other, and we laughed at ourselves,” she said.
Reading a letter she wrote in honor of Dr. Wheeler, McBride said, “Your love and understanding of music was infectious,” giving her an appreciation for jazz and classical music.
“Fare thee well, Joe, you beautiful, compassionate man,” she said.
The pavilion where Dr. Wheeler was memorialized has become the focal point for such nonprofit Centrum-produced events as the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, Jazz Port Townsend and the Port Townsend Acoustic Blues Festival.
The organization, with Dr. Wheeler at the helm, brought the arts to the city.
Dr. Wheeler, who held a doctorate in music education, was heavily influenced in his own musical pursuits by classical and jazz performances.
Music
Fine musicians turned out for Dr. Wheeler’s memorial service as well, and a “Quintet in A Major for Clarinet and Strings” opened the celebration of his life with a W.A. Mozart’s allegro.
A jazz band brought the celebration to a close, performing “I Love You,” by Cole Porter.
Dr. Wheeler was also active in the community in leadership positions with the Northwest Maritime Center, Jefferson General Hospital — which since has been renamed Jefferson Healthcare — the Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce and other organizations.
Dr. Wheeler was born in Wenatchee and played the clarinet and saxophone at Washington State University, where he earned a master’s degree in music education. He earned a doctorate in music at the University of Northern Colorado.
In addition to his son, Joseph Wheeler Jr., Dr. Wheeler is survived by his wife, Renate; his son, Jeffrey Brad Wheeler, and daughter, Michelle Ann Blue; stepchildren, Phillip Grad and Whendi Grad; and several grandchildren.
His family requests, in lieu of flowers, that contributions in memory of Dr. Wheeler be made to Centrum, P.O. Box 1158, Port Townsend, WA 98368.
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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.