A fund known as the Rob Wheeler Memorial Scholarship, named in honor of former South Point High School teacher Rob Wheeler, has been established by the Marshall University Foundation, Inc.
The recipient of the scholarship will be a full-time undergraduate student who graduated from South Point High School in South Point, Ohio with at least a 3.0 GPA. The Office of Student Financial Assistance will select the recipient.
The scholarship was transferred from South Point High School to the MU Foundation.
Wheeler died on April 25, 1994 after a long battle with cancer.
“ ‘I am firm in my belief a teacher lives on and on through his students. Good teaching is forever and the teacher is immortal,’ ” said Peggy Byard, quoting writer Jesse Stuart. Byard, now retired, also was a South Point teacher at the time of Wheeler’s death.
“This scholarship insures Rob’s legacy will live on by providing much-needed financial aid to South Point High School graduates,” Byard said. “Rob was a fantastic teacher, mentor and friend, and this insures his vision for students.”
Byard wrote the following about Wheeler in the 1994 high school yearbook:
“Rob Wheeler was the consummate teacher, going to any and all lengths to educate those students with whom he came into contact,” Byard wrote. “He not only taught classroom subjects, but he taught about life and the beautiful things it has to offer each and every one of us. He was able to bring out the best in students, having that special ‘teacher talent’ of being able to bridge the gap between friend and teacher.”
On July 5, 1975, Wheeler’s wife, Alice, gave birth to twins, Ellen and Alan. The entire family has been active members of the First Baptist Church of South Point, where Rob was a deacon and a Sunday School teacher.
“The loss of Rob Wheeler was for me, as it was for many others, a very deep and personal loss,” Byard continued in her writing. “What he did, what he was and the lives he touched could fill this entire book. He was a very special person, and he will be missed by everyone who ever came into contact with him.”
Peter Kim, a 1990 graduate of South Point High School and son of Dr. Chong Kim, former dean of the Marshall University College of Business, also had high praise for Wheeler. He, too, wrote about Wheeler in the ’94 yearbook:
“It’s been said that a true friend is one who overlooks your failures and tolerates your successes,” Kim wrote. “Mr. Wheeler took on several roles in my life: educator, advisor, disciplinarian and coach. In all definitions of the word, he was an outstanding teacher; but, more importantly in my life, Mr. Wheeler was always a true friend.”
In also writing about Wheeler, South Point teacher Jamie Lester Meade said simply, “with energy, patience and love for his students, Rob Wheeler taught me how to be a teacher in today’s world.”
Anyone wanting to contribute to the scholarship may send a check made payable to the MU Foundation to 519 John Marshall Dr., Huntington, WV 25705, with Rob Wheeler Memorial Scholarship on the memo line.
