MADISONVILLE KY - Howard Hayden Wheeler, Jr., 77, of Madisonville, died February 3, 2012. He was born December 18, 1934, to the late Howard and Elizabeth Wheeler, also of Madisonville.
Mr. Wheeler is survived by his wife of 55 years, Coletta Browning Wheeler; daughters Alysia (David) English, Atlanta, Georgia; Kim (Scott) Ewing, Gilbert, Arizona; and Jill (Scott) Ilario, Charlotte, North Carolina; grandchildren Ryan Duvall, Dickinson, North Dakota; Jacob Duvall, Gilbert, Arizona; Hillary Leasure, Atlanta, Georgia; Nick and Nina Ilario, Charlotte, North Carolina and Lisa and Jenni English of Abilene, Texas and Sarah Beth and Katherine Ewing of Henderson, Kentucky; he is also survived by a brother, Steve Wheeler (Sandra), Madisonville, and a sister Barbara Wheeler Ashby (Emmett), Hixson, Tennessee, sister-in-law, Sahron Browning (Gerald) Martin of Columbia, TN; several nieces, nephews, great- nieces and great-nephews.
Wheeler is a veteran of the U.S. Army, serving in Germany on the Russian Border Patrol in the post-World War II occupation. He is a 55-year member of the American Legion and VFW, the Madisonville Christian Church, he was a machinist for Joe Leasure and Sons for a total of 25 years and is a retired master mechanic from Peabody Coal Company, at one time a supervising machinist for “the Big Digger,” the largest coal shovel in the world at that time.
Funeral service: 11:00 A.M. Wednesday, February 8, 2012, at Barnett-Strother Funeral Home with Rev. Michael Murrah officiating. Burial will follow in Kentucky Veterans Cemetery West in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.
Visitation: 4:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. Tuesday and after 9:00 A.M. Wednesday at the funeral home. A Masonic Service will be conducted by the NH Shaw Masonic Lodge of Nortonville, KY at 6:00 P.M. Tuesday at the funeral home.
Funeral services are pending at Barnett-Strother Funeral Home, Madisonville. Interment will follow services in the Kentucky Veterans Cemetery West in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.
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