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Wlaf1450On November 8, 2021, Edward Foster Wheeler, Jr. (Ed) of Jacksboro and Knoxville peacefully slipped away late Sunday evening on his family farm. He was 76. Ed was born February 10, 1945 in Jacksboro to prominent local businessman Edward F. Wheeler and his wife Veatta and was the youngest of four children. At the age of 15 he became an orphan but with the community’s love and support and his own sheer willpower, he gained prominence in East Tennessee as a financier and a philanthropist for multiple endeavors promoting commerce, safety, and education in his beloved Campbell County.
Early in his banking career he served as a director of First National Bank of LaFollette which eventually led to his founding of First Bank of East Tennessee and American Trust Bank of East Tennessee. A tireless entrepreneur at a very young age, he started or owned several businesses over his life. Clearly, he was a highly successful businessman but it was his philanthropy that left an indelible mark on his legacy. He wanted prosperity for the people of his community and supported its business efforts as chairman of the Campbell County Chamber of Commerce and the LaFollette Chamber of Commerce. He stood by those who could not do so otherwise by championing local support facilities for traumatized women and children during their deepest hours of need through the Community Health of East Tennessee and Campbell County Children’s Center. But perhaps he and his loving wife Carol’s greatest joy was by jointly investing into a brighter future for anyone wanting to better themselves through education by founding the Roane State Campbell County campus and continually providing necessary funds to underwrite the campus’s scholarships and programs that have literally turned around the lives of thousands of Campbell Countians. Because of this advocacy, he received the Tennessee Board of Regents Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Philanthropy and the CRD’s Community College Benefactor Award.
As vice-chairman for the City of LaFollette Planning Commission and a member of the board for East Tennessee PBS, Roane State Community College Foundation and the East Tennessee Historical Society, anyone who knew Ed quickly learned of his love for his family’s heritage and the history of Campbell County. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, our collective history is much richer because of Ed. He was preceded in death by his mother Veatta, father Edward and infant brother Benjamin.
He is survived by his wonderful wife of thirty-two years Carol Wheeler (née Browder), furry four-legged children Abbey and Hadley, sisters Marilyn Rouse (Jim) and Lorenda Castleberry (Jim, deceased), numerous cousins, nieces and nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews, and a great grandnephew.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Roane State Foundation (please note “for the benefit of the Campbell County Center”), Community Health of East Tennessee or Campbell County Children’s Center. Arrangements are being made through Cross-Smith Funeral Home LaFollette.
Condolences may be given online at http://www.cross-smithfuneralhome.com
One of the things we all hope for is that we leave our community, state and country better than we found it – that we did something that will live on long after we are gone and help others to achieve their dreams. That will be Eddie Wheeler’s legacy because so many have been able to go to college or get help when they needed because of what he contributed and worked to achieve. His goal was that every kid that came out of Campbell County should have a chance at a college education and now they do. Prayers for Carol and the family.