Departed this life on Sept. 9, 2006. Helen Irene Wheeler was born on May 26, 1918, to Benjamin D’Arcy and Ellen Wright D’Arcy, in Birmingham, Mich., and departed this life on Sept. 9, 2006, at Heart of the Ozarks Healthcare, Ava, at the age of 88 years.
Helen was one of 11 children born to the D’Arcy family. Helen’s youth was spent in the Almont area where she attended high school.
On June 2, 1942, Helen and Irvine Wheeler were married at Beulah Church of the Nazarene in Lapeer, Mich., and to this union three sons were born. Irvine preceded her in death in 2001. A son, Thomas, a grandson, Grant, four brothers and five sisters also preceded her in death.
Helen was a member of the New Covenant Fellowship Church in Ava. She had lived in Ava for the past eight years, moving from Farmington. She worked as a nurses aide and also was an assistant in Central Supply at the Almont Hospital.
Her survivors include two sons and their spouses, Donald and Alma Wheeler, Columbiaville, Mich., and Dr. Dale and Connie Wheeler, Ava; 11 grandchildren; 19 great-grandchildren; three great-great-grandchildren; and one sister, Betty Herr, state of Michigan; and a host of other relatives and friends.
Services were held at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12, at the Clinkingbeard Funeral Home, Ava, with the Rev. Riley Hall officiating. Interment was in the West Lawn Cemetery, North Branch, Mich., on Sept. 14. The service in Michigan will be today (Thursday) at 11 a.m., at the Blackburn Chapel-Martin Funeral Home, North Branch, Mich., with a visitation preceding the service at 10 a.m. Also, a visitation was held Wednesday, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the funeral home in North Branch.
A local visitation was Monday, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Clinkingbeard Funeral Home, Ava. The family requests memorials to Gideons International or Ava Victory Academy.
