Two Grinnell Organizations Receive Bequest from Wheeler Estate

Grinnell Regional Medical Center and the Grinnell United Methodist Church Foundation have been named beneficiaries of the estate of the late Gail and Margaret Wheeler.

The Wheelers were “quiet saints among us,” says Len Eberhart, church pastor. The Wheelers were married on March 17, 1936, in Malcom, Iowa. Before moving to Grinnell in 1979, they operated a grain and livestock farm southwest of Malcom. Gail Wheeler died in 1992 and Margaret Wheeler died in 2009.

The medical center and the church each received almost $367,000 from the couple’s estate. “The hospital and the church were very important to them. This is the way they always wanted things to be handled,” says the Wheeler’s niece, Mary Bair of Grinnell.

The church foundation plans to place a portion of the Wheelers’ estate into its endowment and another portion will be used for a parsonage replacement fund. Members of the congregation will also enjoy having one of the stained glass windows in the sanctuary restored with funds from the estate. The window to be replaced is directly behind the organ that Margaret Wheeler played during the early Sunday service at the church for years.

“Margaret will be looking down and will be pleased. Her light will shine through the window,” Bair says.

“Margaret and Gail are a blessing to a larger family of which they were a part,” Eberhart says. “We are thrilled to be able to perpetuate their generous spirits through this bequest.”

At the medical center, a portion of the Wheeler estate will be directed to the hospital’s endowment fund. In addition, the GRMC Board of Directors has designated that $200,000 of the estate be used to help improve MRI services at the medical center. GRMC plans to obtain a new MRI and house it inside the medical center to replace its current mobile unit. To do so, an area inside the medical center needs to be remodeled to accommodate the unit, the operations system, and the foundation. The renovation project will cost about $300,000. In addition to the Wheeler bequest, medical center leaders will seek additional support from the community to complete the project. The room with the new MRI will be named the Gail and Margaret Wheeler MRI Suite, in honor of the couple.

Bair says that decision makes “good sense.” Her uncle used GRMC’s services, including its MRI services, for health problems he had many times before his death in 1992.

“GRMC as we know it has delivered healthcare to this community for almost half a century,” says Todd Reding, chair of GRMC’s Foundation Board. “The Wheelers’ gift will help provide area residents with quality diagnostic healthcare close to home for many more years to come. We are honored that they chose to share a significant portion of their estate with us.”