By Neil Armstrong
The youngsters of schoolteacher Estella Albertha Wheeler needs everybody to know that their mom was “a girl of sturdy religion” who instilled in them “the significance of household, training, onerous work and doing what is true.” They described her as a “true function mannequin who we are going to all the time look as much as.”
She was the mom of Trevon, Damian, Tissa-Kaye, and stepdaughter, Norma. The instructor was born on April 15, 1959, and is from Kellits, Clarendon, Jamaica, and attended Clarendon School.
“Our mom was a form, caring and giving one who all the time put the wants of her household earlier than her personal. She was a robust girl who confronted each problem in her life with braveness and dignity. She was a real skilled and an asset to colleges she taught and the neighborhood at massive. Our mom was a supply of inspiration to us all and he or she can be deeply missed by everybody whose lives she touched,” reads the obituary.
On March 13, mother and father organized a Neighborhood Candlelight Vigil exterior the varsity to honour the Grade seven and eight instructor on the Africentric Various Faculty of the Toronto District Faculty Board (TDSB).
“Ms. Wheeler was nicely beloved not solely amongst workers and college students, however the neighborhood generally, so that is an initiative that the dad or mum neighborhood took on,” mentioned principal Hugh Reynolds, who famous that the varsity was not concerned in planning the occasion.
On March 6, York Regional Police responded to an handle within the Metropolis of Vaughan, Ontario, the place they discovered a girl with severe accidents. Regardless of life-saving measures, the sufferer, Estella Wheeler, 64, was pronounced deceased on the scene. Her husband, Trevor Wheeler 68, was charged with second-degree homicide by the murder unit.
Maureen Burbick, a dad or mum, and host of the vigil mentioned the occasion was concerning the neighborhood coming collectively, honouring, remembering, therapeutic, and sharing.
“Mrs. Wheeler poured out her like to all people that she was round, whether or not it’s a dad or mum, a pupil, a instructor, a stranger, and it wouldn’t be proper to not let that love be shined locally and shared. She planted that seed within the kids, she watered it, she watched it bloom and blossom and we now have to maintain that love going. We should enable her legacy to be what it’s — love.”
Each Damian and Tissa-Kaye attended the vigil and though they didn’t converse there, Damian instructed journalists that he needed to thank the neighborhood for his or her help and the turnout demonstrated how a lot his mom was beloved.
Grace Ocloo, who studied with Wheeler — each as mature college students at York College — mentioned her pal graduated in 2012 and taught at a faculty in Etobicoke earlier than instructing on the Africentric Various Faculty. Ocloo continued on to earn her honours diploma and graduated in 2013.
Luther Brown, a former principal of the varsity, mentioned Wheeler was one of many academics that an administrator would need on their workers due to her pedagogy.
Reynolds mentioned the varsity will work with its neighborhood help employee and social staff to plan an occasion to honour Wheeler who taught on the faculty for greater than seven years.
The thanksgiving service for Estella Wheeler can be held on Saturday, April 13, 10:00 a.m. at West Toronto Church of God, 1655 Wilson Avenue in Toronto. There can be a viewing that morning for an honour earlier than the service.
The visitation can be held on Friday, April 12, 4:00-8:00 p.m. at New Haven Funeral Centre, 7025 Legion Street in Mississauga. The interment can be at Glenview Memorial Gardens, 7541 Hwy. 50, in Woodbridge.
