J. Ray Wheeler

Nov. 18, 1907-Nov. 29, 1994

MISHAWAKA - Memorial services for J. Ray Wheeler, 87, of Fountainview Place, who died at 8:45 a.m. Tuesday in the nursing home, will be at 11 a.m. Monday in St. Jude's Catholic Church, South Bend. Cremation will take place, with entombment in St. Joseph Valley Memorial Park Mausoleum, Granger. Friends may call one hour before services in the church. Welsheimer Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Memorial contributions may be made to Center for the Homeless, South Bend.

Mr. Wheeler retired as manager of Plitt Theaters after 44 years of service and Colfax, State, Granada theaters and the Place, which is now Morris Civic Auditorium. He was born Nov. 18, 1907, in Alliance, Ohio, and lived in South Bend since 1928. On July 16, 1932, in Michigan City, he married Janet E. Trott. She survives with a daughter, Judith Schewe of St. Croix, Virgin Islands; two grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and a sister, Elizabeth Swope of North Canton, Ohio. He was a member of the church, Elks Lodge 235, Committee of 100 Chamber of Commerce, past chairman of United Fund Committee for Public Information, past commissioner for ''Go to Bat for South Bend,'' past president of South Bend Rotary Club, was listed in ''Who's Who'' of International Motion Picture Almanac, and was awarded the Quigley Award for showmanship by Motion Picture Herald in 1940.