Lillian P. Wheeler

On Thursday, November 20, 1919, Lillian McLendon Paschal was born in the small town of Shellman, Georgia. She was one of four children, three sons and one daughter of Lennie Reba Rogers and Fletcher Alonzo Paschal, Sr., married on December 27, 1917. Lillian was nicknamed “Sister” and later “Professor.”

As a child growing up in Shellman, GA., not far from her Mother’s home in Plains, Georgia, Lillian frequently helped her Mother care for her older brother Roger William and her two younger brothers Fletcher Alonzo, Jr. and David Wayne. The Paschal household was a proud and fun-loving one with down-to-earth wit, nicknames for everyone, a strong work and education ethic, teaching skills, and family faith. While in Miami, Lillian played the piano at Church while her Dad was Superintendent of the Sunday School.

The Paschal family eventually moved to Winter Park, Florida and then further south, settling in Miami. The family lived on 3rd and 6th Avenues, 5th Court. That horrible 1926 storm snatched off the roof, hurling it into the blue! Fletcher owned a small grocery store where he would often deliver fruits and vegetables for the previous store owner. After that horrible storm, the Paschal family resided in a two-story stucco apartment building on NW 18th Street not far from the railroad track and water tower. Fletcher purchased a car and drove Jitney #1 on Miami Beach.

Lillian and her brothers attended Dunbar Elementary School (1st through 6th grades) and then Booker T. High School (7th through 12th grades). All of the teachers were inspiring and encouraged all students to touch the stars! And, we reached…We each became college graduates, earning scholarships, achieving Master of Arts and Science Degrees in Education as teachers and principals. I graduated from Florida A and M College along with Fletcher, Jr. and David. Roger attended Bethune-Cookman College. I taught English, majored in Home Economics, and as a seamstress, could sew up storm! Lillian had several Masters of Arts and Science Degrees from New York University and Trinity College in Washington, DC.

Lilian met Clyde Melvin Wheeler, during WW II the early 1940’s, while he was stationed in Boca Raton, Florida, when he visited Miami’s USO Offices on leave. Lillian was attending a business women’s meeting held at the USO Building. Lillian and Clyde were married on July 21, 1945, at her parent’s home on NW 18th Street.

Both left for Washington, DC, living on Maryland Avenue, NE for fifteen years, then to a home on 47th Street, NE in 1962. Their three children were a daughter (Lillian Denise who married Robert Howard in 1974), a son (Clyde Dwight who married Theresa Tripp in 1974), and a son (Mitchell Anthony who married Willetta Swann in 1990).

Lillian worked as a caring, gifted and glorious kindergarten teacher at Bryan Elementary School for 33 years. Clyde graduated from American University in 1956 on the GI Bill. Clyde worked at the State Department, the United States Information Agency, and drove Capitol Cab #662, for over 40 years, knowing the streets and avenues of Washington, DC like the “back of his hand.” Lillian taught “Evening School” at Francis Junior High School, helping the adult students learn how to sew in the mid-1950’s. Denise performed ballet dance moves and Clyde sang “Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier” on the last evening of the sewing class. At that time, Denise told Clyde that Mama and Daddy must really love us to name Washington, D.C. after our names!

Lillian continued caring for Clyde at home after his retirement in 1979 and her retirement in 1989. She prepared three-course meals for him after his knee surgery, limits to a cane and a walker, confined to a wheelchair, and when bedridden at home. She was a devoted and charitable wife, Mother, and neighbor. After Clyde’s death on June 23, 2007, Lillian continued to maintain their home and flower gardens around it.

To Lillian’s family, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews, neighbors, friends, doctors, nurses, expressed prayers, kindnesses, words of comfort, and to the loving caregivers whose kindnesses were everlasting Blessings, Lillian wishes to share this Hope-filled Irish Prayer: