Our profile this time is of another member couple who have been long time local residents. Dave Wheeler was born in San Rafael, lived and went to grade school in

San Anselmo, then Hayward. At high school in San Leandro he was known as the driver of a ’34 Ford 5 window with no fenders. One might suspect by the smile in his voice, Dave did not go about his business quietly on the streets of San Leandro.

He graduated from high school in San Leandro, and entered the College of Marin in Kentfield. It was there that he met his future wife Pat. She had got her start in New York City, moved to Salem, Oregon where she completed high school, and then to San Rafael. Her father was warden of Oregon State Prison, and later took a job at the San Quentin Prison.

Dave’s time at College of Marin was interrupted after the first year with a 2 year stint from 1952 to1954, in the Coast Guard during the Korean Conflict. He was assigned to an Air Sea Rescue Cutter that traveled all over the Pacific. Out of the 24 months of active duty he spent 17 months at sea.

It was then back to the College of Marin for his second year, followed by two more years at University of California in Berkeley where he graduated in 1957. He recalls that during the last year and a half of school he worked at an auto dealership selling Citroens and Morgans.

After graduation he began a long affair in the Industrial Fork Lift business that was interrupted frequently by other business ventures. In 1959 and 60 he took advantage of family owned property in San Rafael to open a boat sales business. After selling that business he opened a used forklift and rental business, selling it after a few years. It was then a move down to Las Vegas for a year or so, to work with his brother, who was selling Mack trucks as part of his trucking business.

It was then back to the forklifts when he went to work for a Japanese trading company importing the TCM brand of lifts. After about 4 years with them he took over the Small Construction Machinery Division as the National Sales Manager and traveled all over the country for the next 4 to 5 years.

It is now 1980 and Dave tired of traveling so he opened a computer store in Concord for retail sales, service and training. This activity was centered on the now long gone CPM computer operating system replaced now by the IBM or Windows based computers.

By 1985 the forces at work in the computer field made it a cutthroat business and Dave decided to get into the Mortgage broker business with a buddy. It didn’t take long for him to decide that that was not the business for him and he sold his share.

So now in 1988, Dave takes on the job as Executive Director of the Northern California Marine Association which is the boat dealers trade association. Dave was responsible for putting on the local boat shows in the San Francisco Moscone Center and at Jack London Square in Oakland. He left them in 1990 and took over the Santa Rosa boat show, which he is still doing and is now in its 17th year. You can see it April 13, 14, and 15.

It was during the second year at the College of Marin that Dave and Pat were married. They both moved on to UC Berkeley where Pat had to eventually put her schedule on hold because she became pregnant with their first son, followed by two more. It wasn’t until 1978 that she was able to complete her courses and graduate with her teaching credential.

She went to work as a teacher at Concord High, Clayton Valley High, and the Mt Diablo High School, where she became the vice principal. She finally retired in 1997, after 8 years as Principal of the San Ramon Valley High School in Danville.

Pat is not one to let the grass grow under her feet. Since retiring she has been president of her Rotary Club, founded the Alumni Association and Athletic Hall of Fame at San Ramon Valley High, worked on the Business Education Roundtable that supports and awards student projects. She is on the board of directors of the Danville Community Band. Pat fills in any spare time with her love of gardening and of course her 5 grandchildren.

Dave and Pat not only have their interest in old cars, but they have a long history of active boating. Starting with the cars in their collection they have the ’54 VW bought new in Europe by his folks, the ’66 VW, the ’60 T-Bird convertible project car, the ’75 Porsche 914 project car, and the ’76 Mercedes convertible. The other vehicles bringing the total to 9 are newer drivers.

Boats have played a large part in their years of family recreation. Along with the cars in his driveway is a 14ft, 1957, Aristocraft wooden boat. Then there are the two 30ft Nonsuch sailboats, one of which is a restoration project.

In 1997 when Pat retired they bought a 43ft motor-sailer up in the San Juan Islands and sailed it around up there before bringing it down the coast to San Francisco. Later they sailed it down to Mexico where they left it for a year and a half before bringing it home to sell. In 2002 they bought a 27ft powerboat and towed it back to Ft Lauderdale, Florida, and took it up the inland waterway to Chesapeake Bay. The following year they continued the trip on up the coast to New York and up the Hudson River through Lake Champlain to Montreal and up to Ottawa, then to Kingston, Ontario, ending at the 1000 Islands.

They have boated the length of both the West and East coasts plus towing the powerboat twice up to the San Juan Islands. So boating has and continues to play a role in their active lives.

They joined the Redwood Region at the invitation of Jack Wilson and their first meeting was the 2001planning meeting, held at the Galloway’s in Brentwood. They volunteered right then to host the 2002, Christmas party and they did it again the following year. This past year they lead the very successful Mt. Lassen/Reno tour. CHVA is the only car club they belong to and they enjoy the fellowship and good fun with the Redwood Region.

Published in AAN January-February 2007