The geography department will rededicate the Stewart Hall Library (Stewart 217) to the Jesse H. Wheeler Library this fall as part of Homecoming celebrations, in honor of Wheeler being the first chair of the department and in recognition his enduring contributions to the department. The Wheeler Library was located on the first floor in Stewart Hall prior to the building’s renovation (2016-2018), and was relocated to the second floor as part of the renovation, but was not formally rededicated — until now!
In a memorial piece written by former chair and professor emeritus Kit Salter in The Journal of Geography, Salter states, “Professor Jesse H. Wheeler died the morning of Saturday, July 8, 1994. Friday afternoon, July 7, he had been striding up and down the halls of the MU Department of Geography, chatting, planning, and talking with students and faculty. If ever any professor could be described as living life in academic fashion right up to the very end, it would have to be Jesse Wheeler. It was an exit that seemed wonderfully reflective of his productive and touching life.”
Wheeler, son of Jesse Harrison and Lucy Blackwell (Enochs) Wheeler, was born Nov. 24, 1918, in Scottsboro, Alabama, and died at age 75 in Columbia, MO at University Hospital. He was buried in Columbia Cemetery.
In addition to being chair of MU’s geography department, he was a major in the U.S. Army from 1941-1946. He was also a member of the Association of American Geographers and the National Council of Geography Education. His voting preference was democrat.
Wheeler received a BS in education from Alabama Polytechnic Institute in 1939; a MS in English from Alabama Polytechnic Institute (Auburn University) in 1941; and a doctor of philosophy in geography from the University of Chicago in 1950. He was married to Margery Ellen (Gray) Wheeler and had three children: Robert, David and Charles.
His career with the university began as an instructor in 1949 in the geography department. He retired in 1988, after serving as department chair for 12 of those years. He was the senior co-author on World Regional Geography, which was the most widely used textbook for colleges and universities for many decades. He continued work on it well into retirement. He also continued his service within the department.
The book brought “light and pride” to Wheeler’s eyes, Salter writes: “the way nothing but his family could match. For our celebration of his career at MU, in September 1989, we determined that possibly more than 1 million students in American higher education had been taught geography out of the pages of some edition of that text.
“The World Regional Geography textbook consumed Jesse’s life. In 1990, when he finished his last major edition of the hardback text, I invited him to give a departmental colloquium under the title “The Text is Finished: What’s Next!” He spoke with guarded optimism about doing some more regional work; however, it was clear from the wistfulness in his eyes that he wanted to further refine the text…. He became virtually consumed by the production of ever more elaborate text ancillaries and a paperback reflecting the world of changes in recent political geography. My last conversation with him, on his last afternoon in the department, was a clarion satisfaction of having met yet another of the relentless text deadlines that had come to absorb him.”
Wheeler also saw the department “develop into a significant master’s-degree granting role, with more than 70 of the MU master’s graduates continuing on in doctoral work,” Salter writes. “giving major energy to the graduate program during his years as chair and director of graduate studies, Jesse took great pride in seeing the professional success that came to the students who spent at least two years with him and his colleagues and then went on to major graduate programs around the country.”
Wheeler held many honors, including as distinguished mentor by the National Council for Geographic Education (1980). This honor was in recognition of his work with hundreds of geography graduate students over his 40-year career at Mizzou.
“Jesse involved himself in a number of service activities, but the one that he spoke of with most pride was his role as the review article editor for the Annals of the Association of American Geographers from 1961 to 1969, under four different editors, but primarily under J.E. Spenser, UCLA,” writes Salter. “Nineteen review articles were submitted under Jesse’s editorial leadership, and the majority of them were published. He also served as chair of the National Program Committee for the 1972 Kansas City AAG Meetings.” He continues:
“As one would expect of a Chicago produce, Jesse’s array of activity in service and research is quite substantial. He was a dogged worker and met deadlines with more completeness and efficiency that anyone with whom I have ever worked.
“Jesse touched many lives,” Salter continues. “He was an unparallel example of a faculty member who would sit down comfortably to answer a substantial graduate question about some nuance of world political geography, comment on the most recent border changes in the former Soviet Union, or talk about some WWII experiences as if it occurred (right then).”
The rededication of the Jesse H. Wheeler Library will take place on at a time TBA on Homecoming Weekend, October 23-24, 2020. At the time of this writing [July 2020], it is anticipated that the rededication will be held as a virtual event on Zoom. Final details and event information will be made available one month prior to the event.