Sylvia Wheeler

Sylvia Griffith Wheeler, poet and author, of Las Cruces, NM, passed away January 30, 2012. The daughter of James and Mary Anne Griffith, Sylvia was born May 30, 1930, in Topeka, KS and resided in Olathe, for many years. Sylvia is survived by her sister Maria DeLongy, daughter Alicia and husband Richard d'Autremont, son Jim and wife Nancy, son Tom and wife Julie and grandchildren Kerstin, Ben, Alena, Mark and Rachel. She also received tremendous support and love over the past nine years from her personal caregiver Lilly Gomez.

Sylvia's lifetime interests were the creative arts, most especially: music, theater, literature and writing. She graduated from Wyandotte High School in 1948, received a BA from the University of Kansas and MA in Creative Writing from the University of Missouri Kansas City. Upon graduating she taught English and Theater at Springhill High School, English at the University of Kansas and eventually became a Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of South Dakota.

Along with teaching, Sylvia wrote and published frequently. As one of the early writers recognized by BookMark Press, her works include "City Limits", "Dancing Alone" and an anthology "By Kids, For Kids". She also published "In the Middle: Midwestern Women Poets" and "Counting Back – Voices of the Lakota and Pioneer Settlers" based upon South Dakota oral history tapes. Her play, "This Fool History" won a 1988 Theatre Midwestern Playwright's Merit Award and toured in 1990. Her writings won numerous awards including the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Prize, Kansas City Arts Council Award for Fiction, and a South Dakota Arts Council Artist Award. She was also a Fellow at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference in Vermont.

A visitation and celebration of her life will be held Saturday, February 18, 2012, at Penwell Gabel Funeral Home, 14275 S. Blackbob Rd., Olathe, KS, with a visitation at 9:00 AM, and service at 10:00 AM. A private graveside service will be held at Memorial Park Cemetery in Topeka, KS. Sylvia and family request that in lieu of flowers donations be given to the Olathe Public Library or a library in your community. Mom, thanks for being the most inspiring, fun, wonderful mother and best friend. We will always be thinking of you.