William Joseph Wheeler

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.LakeshoreMort.com for the Wheeler William Joseph “Joe” Wheeler was born on November 29 th , 1923 to parents William and Loretta

Wheeler in Grand Valley, PA. On January 9 th , 2018, Joe took his last breath with family by his

side at home in San Tan Valley, AZ.

A Veteran of the United States Navy, having enlisted in November 1942, Joe served in World

War II for 3 ½ years and had many stories of sailing the Atlantic, Mediterranean and South

Pacific as a Gunners Mate on the USAT George Washington, SS Cornelius Harnett and the

LST 1012.

Joe married the love of his life, Roberta (Bobbie) Loughney on May 20th, 1948. They enjoyed

58 happy years of marriage until Bobbie’s passing in 2006. Joe and Bobbie enjoyed traveling

together and took many memorable trips all over the world visiting friends and family.

Joe Wheeler was a well-known, accomplished Scientific Glassblower. He started his career with

glass in 1942 as a precision lens engraver for Bausch and Lomb Optical Company in

Rochester, NY. Then after returning home from the war in 1946, he apprenticed for 4 years to

Hans Blaessig a German trained glassblower. Hans was a hard taskmaster, but the

glassworking techniques he learned stayed with him over the years. Additionally, he worked

with scientists to design and create glassware at the University of Arkansas, Purdue University,

Dow Chemical Company, the University of Wisconsin - Madison, the University of Hawaii, Litton

Electron Devices, and Hughes Aircraft, Electron Tube Division. This profession provided a life of

adventure, with many, many relocations with Bobbie and the family by his side. Joe passed on

this remarkable skill to his son, Mike Wheeler, who then taught his daughter Christine Roeger.

Joe could be found in his home glass shop almost every day up until just a few years ago

creating artistic and scientific glassware.

Joe was preceded in death by his parents William and Loretta, his siblings, Robert, Richard,

Jean and Clara and his beloved Roberta (Bobbie) Loughney Wheeler. Joe is survived by his

brother Jim, sister Lucille, his six children, 15 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren.

A loving husband and father, Joe kept busy most days of his life creating a piece of art or

custom glassware, remodeling a kitchen, cooking, gardening, writing, golfing and much more.

There were so many valuable lessons to be learned from Joe’s amazing 94 years of life. Many

of us have enjoyed reading his various journals and writing over the years, so it is fitting to close

with Joe’s own words.

From Joe’s 2011 Memoir As I Recall….,

“ Life is a Journey, traveling down many roads, coming to infinite crossroads and turns, choosing

your way among the triumphs and pitfalls met on its way. In hindsight, every turn of the road I

have taken in the past has been another piece of the puzzle of life, goals set in one’s youth

become the pattern of decisions affecting a lifetime of efforts to achieve them. Does one

consciously establish these definite goals, I think not, we all just set out to do what we think

right, agonize the decisions and go for the gold. After so many sleepless nights mulling over the

pros and cons of what to do or not to do, meeting the crossroads and turns in my life, and those

that I have taken, I judge I have been consistently correct. My opinion, to be sure.”family.