Frederick was the last of 6 siblings and graduated from Michigan School for the Deaf in 1900. He built a grandfather clock while in school which still stands at the school museum.
He received some money from a relative (it could be his sister Cora) to build a house at 1407 Upland Drive, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49048. His children commuted about 3 miles to Downtown Kalamazoo by walking. There was no bus line at that time.
He was a founding father of National Fraternity Society of the Deaf known as FRAT in Flint, Michigan. It was an insurance company that served the Deaf when there were no other insurance companies acceptable to the Deaf. William Wheeler "Billy" has a designated emblem carried down the generations to commemorate him.The cause of his instant death was an auto accident when he crossed a county road, carrying groceries. He did not see an oncoming car.
Josephine graduated from Michigan School for the Deaf in 1900, a classmate of Frederick Hayes Wheeler. Josephine and Frederick did not court until later and got married.
In January 1941, Frederick Hayes Wheeler death insurance afforded Josephine to get a set of new teeth but she was medically advised to wait until the weather got warmer. She went ahead regardless because she wanted to get it done before visiting Bessie Wheeler Cookson at that time in Renton, WA. She caught a cold during the cold weather and quickly died of pneumonia. Florence Wheeler Skedsmo was at her bedside until death. Fred Wheeler arrived a short time later.
Bessie graduated from Michigan School for the Deaf in 1933. She met Valentine Cookson of Washington State in Los Angeles where she sought movie star photography as a look-like Jean Harlow. When married, they moved and settled in Renton and later Parkland, both Washington.
She and Val moved to Long Beach, CA to be near Florence Wheeler Skedsmo. She worked with Florence as a garment sewing operator in Downtown Los Angeles. Some years later, she worked as an electronics assembler at the North America Rockwell aircraft. They lived at 512 52nd Street, North Long Beach. Not made of her marriage, she became single. She had no children. She enjoyed travels.
She had a live-in couple she called as grandparents, Wilbur and Maudie Wright. She grew up knowing them a long time since Kalamazoo, Michigan.
She was stabbed to death by a next-door guy in her house. she had known him growing up when his mother helped her make relay calls. The guy insisted getting more money from her, but she refused. Since on illegal drugs, he became impatient and killed her. Arrested the next day in Compton, he spent seven years in jail.
Val was once a professional ball player for a minority league in Vancouver, Washington. He met and married Bessie Wheeler in Los Angeles, California. He and Bessie built a home in Renton and another later in Parkland (both in Washington). They had no children. They moved again to Long Beach, California.
He married again to Sarah (last name unknown) and made a home in Newport Beach, California. In a short time later, he was confined to bed since a stroke and died in the early '70s.