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Donald J. Wheelan

  A former Washington resident, Don J. Wheelan, 88, of Midwest City, Oklahoma, died Friday, August 19, 2005, in Deaconess Hospital, Oklahoma City.
  He was born December 26, 1916, in Washington County Hospital, Washington, Iowa, to John H. and Martha Swift Wheelan. His parents preceded him in death.
  In 1981, he married Maxine Beaver, who survives. He is also survived by two sisters, Esther (Mrs. Bernard) Blaine, of Independence, Missouri, and Roberta (deceased husband, Robert) Clark of Urbana, Illinois, a brother, Mike (wife, Donna) of Washington, Iowa, two stepsons, Larry (wife Pam) Beaver of Tulsa, Oklahoma,
Dennis Beaver of Key West, Florida, and grandson Lee Beaver of Midwest City,
Oklahoma. There are also twenty-three nieces and nephews.
  Don received his early education in Washington rural and city schools. He attended Washington Junior College and the University of Iowa.
  On October 6, 1941, he joined the Navy Cadet Flight Programs in Glenview, Illinois, and was therefore already in training at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack.
  He was commissioned an ensign in the Naval Air Corps in 1942 and was assigned to Norman, Oklahoma, as a lieutenant and flight instructor. As a flight instructor in Corpus Christi, Texas, he later trained several Washington young men as pilots for service in World War II.
  He was himself assigned to an aircraft carrier for flight duty when the atom bomb ended the war. He was discharged August 9, 1946. Don returned to Oklahoma, where he became an insurance broker at American National Insurance Company. Funeral services were held August 23 at St. Philip Neri Catholic Church in Midwest City. Interment was at Arlington Memory Gardens, Midwest City.
  Pallbearers were: Mike Wheelan, Dan Wheelan, Dennis Beaver, Larry Beaver, Lee Beaver, and Don Manning. Serving as honorary pallbearers were: Dr. William Parry, John Merritt, Jim Tappan, Dee Collins, Dan Taylor and Charles Dryden.
  Funeral arrangements were handled by Eisenhour Funeral Home Southeast.
(www.eisenhourfuneralhome.com)

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