The ideal citizen

Billy Joe Wheeler's story is a unique one He's a man who left school in the eighth grade and became a board member of Howe Independent School District and a city councilman for the City of Howe Born to nomadic dirt farmers, he vowed not raise his kids from town-to-town but used his childhood farming expertise to plant deep and strong roots for his family in one city, one school, and one church Volunteering for nearly everything and anything that had to do with Howe, his kids, or friends, Wheeler, now 85, lived his life as what community developers refer to as "the ideal citizen "

Wheeler was born in Anna, Texas in 1934 to Marion Frances "General" and Melvina "Mellie" Victoria Wheeler, but didn't stay there long As a matter of fact, he didn't stay anywhere very long as a child

"My dad always seen the grass greener on the other side somewhere," said Wheeler

Their travels took them to East Texas, West Texas, and Stillwater, Oklahoma before finally settling down at Elmont (east of Van Alstyne) His first schooling began when he had to walk four miles as a first grader to Lone Star school near Weston.

"There were trees grown over this muddy wagon trail and I'd walk there every day," said Wheeler

"Then we moved to Oklahoma and all over I even went to Howe for a little while "

Wheeler's sense of work came at an early age in the cotton and corn fields with a one-row planter They had no electricity, only the coal oil lamps that he despised

"I told my dad when I was 16 that I didn't want to be a farmer," said Wheeler "He said, 'Son, I wouldn't say that because one day you might be glad to get on the farm ' I said, "I might get on it, but I won't be glad '"

After working a few years in Dallas after deciding to leave the farm, he met Lucy Loftice in 1955 at Elmont Baptist Church and married her in October the next year He quit a good paying job with General Motors and moved to Howe to begin his life as a family man

"I thought if I was going to raise kids, I didn't want to raise them up down there in Dallas," said Wheeler

He went to work with Fant Milling Company in Sherman who was later purchased by Con-Agra

"That was good for us because we got a big raise," said Wheeler

Their first child Nita was born in