Roll Call Tribute

Tondre-Guinn Funeral Home obituary
Castroville, TX.

Rodney "Bill" McDowell Wheeler
Born: June 15, 1920
Died: January 23, 2015

Rodney “Bill” McDowell Wheeler age 94, of Hondo, TX, passed away Jan. 23, 2015 in San Antonio. Bill was born in June 15, 1920 in Colony, OK to the Rev. Wilbur Basil Wheeler and Clara Clementine Stafford Wheeler. In 1939 he graduated from Miles High School in Miles, TX. He graduated with a Master of Industrial Education from Texas A&M in 1951 and received a Master of Science from Texas A&I in 1955. Both masters he received by teaching during the year and going to summer school. Bill served in WWII from 1942 until 1945 as a Master Sergeant in the 371st Bombardment Squadron. When he returned home he married his fiancé, Hulda “Toodie” Muennink on April 8, 1945 at New Fountain United Methodist Church, with the ceremony officiated by his father. They both received degrees from Texas A&I in Kingsville, TX. Bill taught school in Driscoll, TX for one year and then taught and drove the school bus at Petronilla, TX for 3 years. He then received a job teaching Industrial Arts at South Park Jr. High in Corpus Christi, TX. He taught there for 30 years and retired in 1981. He and his wife moved to their ranch north of Hondo. Bill, a carpenter built the house they lived in and all the furniture except for a few items. His assistant was his lovely wife, Toodie. The couple were rock hounds and Bill taught lapidary classes at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi in the late 1960’s. Family vacations were mapped out in the Western U.S. to hunt rocks indigenous to those regions and also visit the nations national parks. He was an avid hunter, gardener and loved fishing. Bill was a faithful Christian, serving the Methodist Church his whole life. He was preceded in death by his parents; wife, Hulda “Toodie” Wheeler and son, Rollin Gordon Wheeler. Survivors include his two children, Kay D. Reynolds and her husband Patrick of Castroville and Gary Wheeler and his wife Debbie of Jacksonville, FL; five grandchildren, William Wheeler, Tammy Adams, Kelly Polizzi, Joshua, Johanna, and Emma Reynolds; three great grandchildren; brother, Thomas Joe Wheeler and his wife Myra of Boerne; in-laws, Franklin and Helen Muennink of Hondo and Luella Wheeler-Bell of Waco. Visitation will be Thursday, January 29, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Tondre-Guinn Funeral Home in Castroville. Funeral services will be Friday, January 30 at 10:00 a.m. at New Fountain United Methodist Church, New Fountain, TX. Interment with military honors will follow at the Hondo Cemetery in Hondo, TX. Memorial donations may be given in his memory to either the New Fountain United Methodist Church; The Mission Society, P.O. Box 922637, Norcross, GA 30010 or to Methodist Children’s Home, Waco , TX. Arrangements with Tondre-Guinn Funeral Home, Castroville, TX. Visit www.tondre-guinn.com