PORT TOWNSEND — Joseph F. Wheeler, a man who brought culture, music and education to Port Townsend and had a large theater named after him, died Monday at age 77.
Dr. Wheeler was a founder, current board member and original executive director of Centrum.
And according to current Executive Director John MacElwee, he was the man who served as “the creator of something unlike anything else.”
Dr. Wheeler, who held a doctorate in music education, died of cancer at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle surrounded by his family.
He is survived by his wife, Renate; his children, Joseph F. Wheeler Jr., Jeffrey Brad Wheeler and Michelle Ann Wheeler; stepchildren, Philip Grad and Whendi Grad; and several grandchildren.
Services for Dr. Wheeler will be announced later.
MacElwee said Dr. Wheeler found out that he had cancer 10 days ago.
“He was in good spirits, and he said he was going to fight it,” MacElwee said.
“It seemed that two weeks ago he was in perfect health, and then it was discovered just how serious this was.”
MacElwee was hired as executive director of the nonprofit foundation that runs music and arts programs at Fort Worden State Park for more than 25,000 participants each year in February.
He said Wheeler was the first person from Centrum he spoke with — and had spoken with him “almost every day since then.”
‘An incredible mentor’
“He made me feel incredibly comfortable here,” MacElwee said.
“He was an incredible mentor, an incredible person and he had a vision that was truly unique.”
Dr. Wheeler served as Centrum’s first executive director from 1973 to 1995 and remained an active board member and fundraiser after his retirement.
“Joe Wheeler was a visionary who helped to transform Fort Worden State Park into a center for arts and creative education that has impacted tens of thousands of Washingtonians and professional and aspiring artists all over the world,” said Centrum board president Libby Reid.
“Although he retired as executive director some 15 years ago, he was a very active board member for Centrum and a tireless fundraiser.
“His spirit will live on through the programs he helped to create for generations to come.”
Centrum legacy
MacElwee said each program offered now by Centrum is somehow shaped around Dr. Wheeler’s original plan.
“He created a cultural legacy that is still as important and vibrant today as it was 30 years ago, and we work hard every day to fulfill the vision he had for Centrum,” MacElwee said.
“Our hearts go out to his wife, Renate, his children and grandchildren and the thousands of lives he touched.”
Dr. Wheeler was born on Dec. 19, 1931, in Wenatchee, the son of Joseph Hicks and Bertha Wheeler.
He began playing clarinet in his school bands and orchestras, and music became an integral part of his life.
A graduate of then-Washington State College with a master’s degree in music education and the University of Northern Colorado with his doctorate, Dr. Wheeler worked as a teacher and organizer of cultural events in the Tacoma School District.
In 1972, he was hired as a consultant to research the proposal to create an arts center at the former Army base, Fort Worden, which had recently become a Washington state park.
Dr. Wheeler worked closely with the Washington State Arts Commission, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Parks Commission in establishing the park as a statewide facility for arts education.
As a result of that role, he became the founder and first executive director of Centrum, envisioned and created as a multidisciplinary nonprofit arts organization, where he served for 23 years.
Workshops set up
MacElwee said under Dr. Wheeler’s direction, Centrum become one of the nation’s pioneers in presenting weeklong workshops at Fort Worden State Park for many different art forms, including jazz, acoustic blues, chamber music and traditional folk arts programs, including Fiddle Tunes, one of the nation’s largest festivals for traditional music.
“It was about participation in the arts,” Dr. Wheeler said of Centrum in 1997.
“Centrum was to be a program where people did not come simply to see performances: the major focus was to be that people would come and be involved in the arts, to live here and to get their hands in it.”
The workshops also featured a performance component for the public, with faculty concerts in the Joseph F. Wheeler Theater — the 300-seat former Army theater renamed in Wheeler’s honor upon his retirement from Centrum — and the McCurdy Pavilion, for which he led the fundraising campaign to build a concert hall out of a World War I-era dirigible hangar.
These concerts, combined with intimate performances at Port Townsend clubs and restaurants developed into such internationally known festivals as Jazz Port Townsend, the Port Townsend Acoustic Blues Festival, the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes and the Port Townsend Chamber Music Festival, all of which attract thousands of people each summer from all over the country.
“We wanted to create educational programs in the arts and sciences in the areas where creativity was part of the process,” Dr. Wheeler had said.
“We wanted to provide residencies for artists to develop their own art or craft.”
Residential programs
Under Dr. Wheeler’s direction, Centrum also offered residential programs in arts education and exploration for Washington students at the elementary, middle and high school levels.
Since his retirement from Centrum in 1995, Wheeler was active in the community in leadership positions with the Northwest Maritime Center, Jefferson General Hospital (since renamed Jefferson Healthcare), the Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce and other organizations.
He continued to serve Centrum on its board of directors and remained an active fundraiser for the organization.
“You would be hard-pressed to find a man who was involved as he was,” MacElwee said.
“He lived an extremely full life and he got a lot accomplished.
“Not everyone can say they created something like Centrum.”
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Reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsuladailynews.com
