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Omaha
Sunday
Bee
PART THE.EE
EDITORIAL
PAGES OXE TO SIX
HE
PART THREE
MAGAZINE
PAGES ONE TO SIX
VOL. XLV NO. 33.
OMAHA,. SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY 30, IMG.
SINGLE - COPY nVI-J CKNTS
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By A. It. CtROH.
NOT many men can look upon their own
memorials or monuments while tbey are
still In the full vgor of life.
But that is the privilege of Rev.Dr.
Robert I Wheeler of, the South 8ide.
Dr., Wheeler Is a rigorous, every-husy pastor. He
. Is pastor of his own memorial church, a splendid
$50,000 edifice of classic design which stands at
Twenty-third and J streets.
He has labored In this field for thirty years,
building up a strong congregation from practically .
i nothing and erecting the splendid edifice in which
: It worships.
Of course, he didn't name It after himself. It
was named the First Presbyterian church of Bouth
Omaha. When South Omaha became a part of
! Greater Omaha It became necessary to rename the
I church because there was already one First Presby
tertan church In Omaha. Then it was that the
I congregation, looking upon the tireless labors of Its
j pastor, decided to nama the church after him.,
So It Is the Robert L. Wheeler Memorial Pres
Jbytertan church.
If a man ever deserved a memorial Dr. Wheeler .
f does. : So says his congregation. lie first sug
' gested establishing a church in South Omaha. That
was In 18S7 and he had come to Omaha to attend
: the meeting of the general assembly which was held
in a little school house where the Union Pacific
k station, South Side, now stands.
The Idea took. Rev.. Mr. Wheeler immediately,
; with Characteristic energy, began canvassing the
. lively little town for members. He "r&nded up"
a baker's dozen, organised and placed Rev. Oeorge
i M. Lodge in charge. Then ha returned to his own
charge at Ponca, Neb.
The Rev. Mr. Lodge found South Omaha such
a wild and un-Oodly place that he gave up his task
soon and left the little flock without a shepherd.
When this news reached New York, Dr. John
Hall, chairman of the Home Missions board of the
Presbyterian church, wrote to Dr.'- wWeler asking
him to leave- Ponca and try to build up the South
Omaha church. Dr. Wheeler accepted the burden
and arrived in South Omaha with his family in May,
1888. He has been "on the Job" ever since.
He soon had plans under way for a church
building . and the building soon materialized at
Twenty-fifth and J streets. This was succeeded by
a more pretentious structure at Twenty-second and
J streets. And in the course of time, and as a re
cult of labor-and patience,, the congregation out
grew thia building also. I
And there stands the beautiful new structure,
the Wheeler Membriair on of the handsomest
church edifices in all Omaha, It is of brick and
stone wjth. asphalt roof, steam, heat, eleotrio lights.
It cost 145,000 and contains a pipe organ that cost
13.500 besides. It is commodious, beautiful' and
convenient. It contains a big, completely equipped
kitchen, and the Sunday school room can be used
for a dining room on the occasions of congrega
tional dinners or when entertaining meetings of the
general assembly or other large conventions.
The congregation has grown from thirteen
to 565. -
Nor has the congregation been content merely
Unique Experience of Rev. Robert L.
Wheeler, When the First Presbyterian
Church of South Omaha Was Expunged
from the Map by the, Annexation with
Omaha and His Board v Renamed the:
. ' ' T ' ' ' ' t .
Church in Recognition of -His Service
to build up itself. It is a mlsBlonatlng church. It
supports and Is now finishing a pretty new church
tulldlng at Forty-ninth and Q streets, where, for
fourteen years a flourishing mission Bible school
has been maintained. 1 '
For activity Dr. Wheeler makes the proverbial
"cranberry merchant" look like an ordinary loafer.
He la busy all the time. Neither rain; snow, heat
or cold can stop him. He Is a good example of the
fallacy of the popular idea that "all a minister has
to do Is preach two sermons a week." Unless you
have an appointment you aren't likely to find him
at home when you call. He's out visiting the sick
or burring the dead or calling on his parishioners
or engaged in some other of his multitudinous
duties. -N
Many of these duties are self-imposed. For
example, his preaching and offering prayer over the
bodies of friendless dead. One day, some years
ago, he saw a body of "one more unfortunate" be
ing chucked into a pine box to be hauled out and
put in the ground without benefit of clergy.
He immediately called a halt on the Impromptu
funeral. He conducted services over the body and
then he made publio his desire to conduct services
ever the bodies of all poor and friendless persons
who had no one to perform that service. There Is
no charge for it, either. He has conduced the
funerals of sixty-four suicides since he came to
South Omaha.
Whenever anyone speaks to Dr. Wheeler about
' the good work be .has done, he invariably plucks a
large verbal bouquet and throws it gracefully in the
direction .of his wife. They were married (ln 1878
back In his boyhood home, Watklns, N. Y.
"My devoted wife has been a most capable aid
all these years," says Dr. Wheeler. : "Her patience, '
devotion to the church, gracious quality of peace
and good-will to all, and native sense of attending
strictly to her own affairs, has been of Incalculable
blessing, -....
Dr. Wheeler's activities for the public welfare
extend to many channels. Once he was nominated
for congress and almost won the race. He was in
the forefront of the fight to provide food for the
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WHEELEB -p. D
striking paoking house employes "and their families
several years ago. He has taken active interest In
upbuilding the publio library and was one of the
ciganlsers of the South Omaha Hospital association.
And in many lines ot charitable work he has led. ,
He Is an Interesting and forceful speaker with
a lively sense of humor and a firm grasp of a great
many subjects. ...
Augustus Caesar boasted, "I found Rome a oity
of brick; I have made it a city of marble." Beauti
ful Rome was a memorial of Augustus.
Dr. Wheeler found his church not even a church
of brick. It was a church of nothing In a material
way and mighty little In a personal way. He has
made It a church of stone and marble and of 565'
people. ,
Any wonder his congregation feels that he de
serves a memorlalt
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The Robert l wheeler
jkemoriav.
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SOUTH SIDE
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