Delores E Wheeler

Delores “Dedee” Eileen Cox Wheeler was born at home in Denver, Colorado on December 14, 1931. She died peacefully on September 17, 2023 with her daughter by her side. She was residing at Beehive Homes in Grand Junction where she had lived for the past 9 months.

Dedee lived in Crested Butte briefly as a young child, but primarily grew up living in Old Dillon and moved to Silverthorne after the Dillon reservoir was built. Dedee enjoyed telling stories about the buildings that were moved from Old Dillon to Silverthorne and the great memories she had from living there back in the “good old days.” She attended High School in Breckenridge, Colorado. She married Walter Wheeler on September 22, 1960, and they lived in Silverthorne until 1984 when they moved to DeBeque, Colorado in order to get out of the high altitude. Dedee spent much of her time gardening, working in her yard and canning fruits and vegetables. She and her husband both had a green thumb and raised beautiful gardens.

Dedee worked many different jobs throughout her life including restaurant work, the courthouse in Breckenridge and managed a trailer park for many years. Her last job before retiring was at the DeBeque School in the kitchen. She loved this job as she was able to interact with the kids at school and they loved her as well. Many of them still tell stories about her squirting them with her plate rinsing hose and her loving way of joking. She retired in 1993 to assist with the care of her first grandchild. She was a wonderful grandmother and made sure her grandkids knew that she loved them and they were going to know how to behave. Dedee was a devoted wife and helped care for other family members when needed. She had many friends and always enjoyed going to the community center to drink coffee and catch up on topics of the day. The highlight of her retirement years after Walt passed away was going on gambling trips with her wonderful friends Carlos and Winnie Carpenter and their daughter Connie. She loved to tell stories about these trips and teased her children about gambling away their inheritance. You always knew her opinion and where she stood on things. Be careful about asking her what she thought because she didn’t mind telling you. She was a beautiful loving soul and will be dearly missed.

Survived by two children Bob Wheeler (Lori) of West Plains, Missouri and Teresa Ryan (Jason) of DeBeque, Colorado. Four grandchildren, Zachary Prather (Nicole)Arizona, Tucker Ryan (Kylie)South Dakota, Wesley Ryan, Florida and Cody Powell (Kris) North Carolina. She welcomed her first great grandchild Travis Michael Ryan in March of this year and had many loving nieces and nephews that she dearly loved.

Preceded in death by her parents, husband Walter Wheeler, sister Tess O’Neal, and brothers Hoot and Wally Cox.

No services are planned currently. A special thanks to Hope West Hospice and the staff at Beehive Homes who took loving care of our mother during a very difficult time in her life.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.callahan-edfast.com for the Wheeler family.