On Sunday February 26, 2023, John Thomas Wheelock, loving husband, and father of seven children, passed away peacefully surrounded by family at the age of 86.

John was born on September 19, 1936, in Nevada, Iowa to Timothy L. Wheelock and Margaret M (Griffith) Wheelock. He was a longtime employee of The Dept. of Energy, Ames lab, at Iowa State University. He was married to Linda Christianson in 1961 and five children were born of this union, Julie (Casella), Jay, Jenifer (Zeno), Justin and Jeremy. He remarried on December 30, 1977, to Kathy Acker, and they have 2 children, Beth (Woods) and Davin.

John has been retired for several years but often talked about how much he enjoyed his job with the Ames Lab. He was the "self appointed" treat manager. Any occasion was a day for celebrating whether it was a birthday, anniversary, or new car… he made sure you paid your dues.

He was very proud of his accomplishments and tenure at this job. He was particularly proud of his participation in the development of Thermite Reduction Process for Making Rare-Earth-Iron Alloys which received an R&D 100 award. While he had several patents, this was his most prestigious.

In retirement, John enjoyed taking the RV and traveling throughout the U.S. visiting family. He especially enjoyed visiting Civil War battle sites and memorials. He loved talking about old tractors and cars and about his history with each. He was a proud member of the Nevada Lion's Club where you could often catch him taking tickets at ISU games or driving his truck in the Nevada Lincoln Hwy Days parade.

John was preceded in death by his father, Tim, his mother Marge, and brother Mark. He is survived by his wife Kathy, his children, Julie (Paul) Casella, Jay (Denise), Jeni (Larry) Zeno, Justin, Jeremy (Tricia), Beth (Dennis) Woods, Davin, his brothers, Jim (Sheri), Jerry (Jan), Steve (Diane), and sister Ramona (Merrell) Kilborn, several nieces, nephews, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

The funeral service will be 2 p.m. Friday, March 3, 2023, at Rasmusson-Ryan Funeral Home (1418 Fawcett Pwky) in Nevada. Family will greet friends beginning at 12 p.m. A graveside memorial service will be Thursday, June 29, 2023 at 1:30 p.m. at Oak Hill Cemetery in Rural Nevada.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Nevada Lions Club in memory of John.

Rasmusson-Ryan Funeral Home in Nevada is handling arrangements. Condolences may be sent to the family online at www.rasmussonfh.com