Dr. Wheeler Retires: That Suit Was Made for Walking

By Anna Lambert
 

Dr. Orville E. Wheeler RETIRED at the conclusion of the Spring semester, 2008. As his office-mate and future biographer, he left me precise instructions: make it perfectly clear that he did not, and has not, died. He simply retired from The University of Memphis after a long, distinguished career, and he relocated to Texas in order to live closer to his daughter. Rest assured that he's likely sporting his power suit at a local Starbucks. Some things never change.

As most of you know, Dr. Wheeler lives a life rich in experiences and opportunities, and he embraces the idea that each day offers new knowledge.
His educational background is impressive: he earned a Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from Vanderbilt University in 1954, followed by a Master's degree from the University of Missouri in 1956. Next, he received a Ph.D. in Structural Mechanics from Texas A&M in 1966.

More impressive still is his lifelong ability to multi-task, and I cannot think of a more fitting example than this example from June 6, 1956: On this day, he received his Master's degree at 10 a.m., was commissioned in the United States Navy by noon, and he capped off the day by marrying Mary Bea Wheeler at 7:00 p.m.

A brief summary of Dr. Wheeler's professional history follows:

o By his own description, he served as a pilot in the US Navy “for 3 years, 3 months, and 5 days” between 1956 and 1959;

o Between 1959 and 1966, he practiced professional engineering as a structural dynamics analyst at Chance Vought (1959-1966) and Brown Engineering (1961-1962) before moving to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center where he worked as part of the Saturn V team from 1962-1966. After that, he worked as a Project Structures Engineer/Design Specialist for General Dynamics from 1966-1972, and he served as Chief Structures Engineer for Bucyrus-Eric from 1972-1978.

o At that point, Dr. Wheeler's career steered toward the academic realm, and he accepted a position as Dean of the Herff College of Engineering at Memphis State University. He served as Dean from 1978 through 1987, and in 1987, he was named the Herff Professor of Structural Mechanics from 1987-2008.


Perhaps Dr. Wheeler's impact on the Herff College of Engineering and our Civil Engineering Department are described by his former students:

I have a funny story about Dr. Wheeler that makes me think of him often. I was giving my Senior Design presentation, and at the end, it happened - a question from Dr. Wheeler. Anyone who has been there knows the fear that shot through me.

What followed? Dr. Wheeler said that while my presentation has been fine, it was a shame that I thought so little of the audience that I would not take the
time to button my collar. Since then, I'm sure to buy shirts that fit, and I never, ever walk into a meeting without first checking my collar. Point taken, lesson learned.

Submitted by: Michael F. Winkler
Research Hydraulic Engineer, USACE


Dr. Wheeler personified the importance of being an Engineer; he suited up each morning in what seemed to be “the uniform” just as I grew up watching my father
come home in his Fire Fighter uniform, you can look at the guy and say, “that's what I'm going to be when I grow up.” He carried with him each step of his day a degree of professionalism that every student that knew of him at the University of Memphis learned to recognize and appreciate in order to be proud of their
own accomplishments.

I've got my Engineering Your Future book from Senior Design on my bookshelf in the office today; it's a small example of his understanding of being an Engineer,
traveling well beyond the class work, eventually becoming a lifestyle. From his meticulous study of the personal details of each student to his ability to fall so
deeply into his own work that he'd lose track of what time it was and that he was supposed to be in the classroom. His presence on the campus was an opportunity for the students to be led by example.

Dr. Wheeler has likely touched so many lives that my own examples hardly make a blip on the radar; however, I feel compelled to send a description of how his presence touched any and every student that he encountered….even the kid in the back of the room doing whatever it takes to pull down his 'C' in-between
jobs and growing up….in my opinion it's THAT kid who needed him most, because at some point, after the diploma was handed out and a nice pat on the back and “good luck in the real world” it's that kid who has to make the decision about “what do I do now?” ------ well, you take a deep breath, put on “the uniform” and go to work……

Thanks, Dr. Wheeler, from those you never even knew you knew….you've touched a lot of lives.

Submitted by: Russell E. Webb, P.E.
The University of Memphis, 2003.
 

I remember when I first came to the University of Memphis and how everyone would say, “Don't take anything from Dr. Wheeler. He is so uptight and hard
and you won't learn anything.” It actually wasn't until my senior year that I had a class taught by him, senior design. I didn't avoid him, my schedule just
simply never merged with his. What I found out during senior design made me realize why all those students avoided him. He was a man who demanded
attention to detail, results, and above all respect for the profession in which all of us were striving to become part of, things that reminded me of the way in
which I was taught in the military. Dr. Wheeler wasn't about to “spoon feed” you every bit of information so that you could simply get buy in the class. He
expected you to search out the knowledge so that you would learn and retain the information in order that it could be used later in you education and in the
Engineering profession.

I believe that Dr. Wheeler understood that in order to truly learn there needs to be a desire and willingness to search out knowledge ( a.k.a reading.) He was always there for questions pertaining to anything that was not understood or explained well through text. What I remember most about Dr. Wheeler is our occasional meetings in his office during graduate school where I was fortunate to have taken more of his classes. We would sit in his office and discuss where I was in my research and when I was going to “get out of here.” We would tell stories about our lives, we all knew how much he liked to do that, and we would share the latest jokes.

What most people didn't see was that Dr. Wheeler is a very funny man who likes to laugh and have a good time; he simply kept this side of himself separate from the job. I hope to run into him some time down the road and pass along all my new jokes and to see if he is using all that free time to finally learn to play that guitar.

Submitted by: Scott Stovall,
Ph.D. Candidate, University of Memphis

When I arrived at U of M, Dr. Wheeler was talked about among students as one of the professors that you DON'T want to have because he was hard on students and made you work (how appalling!). I remember new students (freshmen usually) altering their route when they saw him coming down the hall. I found out laterwhen I was finally unable to avoid taking his classes that all of those rumors about him were true. He was hard on students, made them work, and expected a lot from them. I discovered that beyond his gruff demeanor, all he wanted was for all of his students to make an effort to succeed. These kinds of teachers and professors are the ones you appreciate more as you get older.

Submitted by: Russell Brassfield
Kimley Horn


When I was in the undergraduate program, I waited with fear on the day when I would become a student in one of Dr. Wheeler's classes. I had heard rumors whispered in the halls of the things that befell those unfortunate enough to wear ball caps or bring drinks into class. This was a man to be feared, I thought.

Then the day came that I found myself waiting in class one morning for my first encounter as a student: Sweaty palms, notebook, pencil and paper ready to
go and a distinct absence of ball cap, water bottle, or anything else that I imagined might be offensive. And then he was there. It was surprising that he was able
to fit so much into a single class period, but he supplied a steady combination of content and stories from his own experiences as an engineer. Both were quite valuable: the class material gave us the technical skills to solve engineering problems, and the stories gave us background into other fields that most of us would never see. The stories rounded out our education. And what of the man to be feared? He may have been hard on some of us, but he was only hard on us because he cares about us.

Submitted by: Jim Bragdon,
TetraTech


Dr. Thomas Fry gave me the privilege of being Dr. Wheeler's very first graduate assistant way back in the fall of 1978 for his Structures I class. It was kind of scary being the grad assistant to the new Dean of the Herff college, but I found Dr. Wheeler to be fair, calm in controversy, and a fine teacher. The stories I'd like to tell about a couple of his dealings with individual students would probably violate some sort of professor / grad assistant confidentiality code. But, believe me, I'm laughing.

Submitted by: Walter Stevens
Energy Projects Engineer, MLGW


In summary, the Civil Engineering faculty and students wish Dr. Wheeler a lifetime of lifelong learning and continued new experiences (accompanied, of course, by his invariably hilarious recollections). It is our hope, however, that he will keep in touch, and we will share news of his latest adventures with you in future editions of Concrete Issues. Should you wish to submit recollections of other memorable “Wheeler-actions,” please submit your information to Anna Lambert at apphllps@memphis.edu, and we'll publish as many as possible.