“This is the last show I will be presenting,” local jazz legend Mae Wheeler told The American last year. “But I’ll sing until the Lord takes me home.”
It was a few short days before her benefit show at the Sheldon in October, and Wheeler had resolved to listen to her body and slow down.
Few believed she would do so. As her health declined over the years, she always managed to muster up a second wind for more shows.
Sadly, with her death on Wednesday (June 15, 2011) at the age of 77, Wheeler had kept her word.
She had been battling colon cancer for five years, along with leukemia for the last two years. But for Wheeler, the show went on through sickness, fatigue and pain.
“She performed a pool party when she first moved out to Creve Coeur a few years ago,” Wheeler’s eldest daughter Mar-Yam-Yahrib Aaten said. “She was sitting there with oxygen in her nose and she sang like a bird – on a hot summer day!”
She shared her gift of song with St. Louis audiences – and scholarships to area students -through her benefit shows until the very end. She raised thousands of dollars for hundreds of students and featured dozens of performers on her bills, dating back to before the inaugural Divas showcase in 1996.
From Memphis to Gaslight Square
Wheeler was born on May 15, 1934 in Memphis, TN. A daughter of the Great Migration, she moved to Richmond Heights with her family at the age of five. When she arrived in the St. Louis area as a kindergartener, her gift for singing already had been established via church performances.
Marriage and motherhood seemed to be her path once she met her husband Jimmie Lee. The couple had five children before her husband’s tragic death in 1964.
As she took on various jobs to make ends meet for her family, Wheeler never forgot her song.
Thanks to the urging of Jeanne Trevor, another local jazz legend, Wheeler created a spark near the end of the Gaslight Square era that ignited the flame of an enduring legacy.
“I figured everyone would like her when they got to hear her,” Trevor said. “She had a down-to-earth sound.”
Trevor also loved how Wheeler embraced people of all races.
“She reached out to all races and didn’t care what anybody thought of it,” Trevor said. “She didn’t want to stick you in corners. That’s not music. You can’t have the black notes over here and the white notes over there – that’s not composition.”
Spotlight sharer
Once Wheeler made her name, she always reached out – like Trevor did for her – to provide a platform for rising performers in the area.
“I loved how she could share her stage unconditionally,” Aaten said. “And how she never had fear of bringing someone to her gigs and sharing the spotlight.”
Wendy Gordon was one of many singers Wheeler welcomed into her light.
“She was like a mother to me,” Gordon said. “She took me under wing in the mid-‘80s. She instructed me on the kinds of songs to sing for my voice and range, and allowed me to come to her sets and sit in on numerous occasions.”
Gordon said Wheeler was instrumental in securing gigs for her at local venues.
“I will truly miss her firm but gentle ways,” Gordon said. “But I know she is resting in peace.”
Her sharing nature leaves a lasting legacy.
“One of the last lessons she gave us as a family was, ‘It’s not about the taking, it’s about the giving,'” Aaten said.
The giving will continue in shows and scholarships.
“I don’t think there will ever be another Mae Wheeler, but I know Mar-Yam will keep her dreams alive,” Trevor said. “She will keep doing her Diva shows and giving her scholarships to young people.”
Aaten said that Wheeler walked her family through her death in the final month before she passed away.
“That was her knowing that we were all right and for us to know that she was all right,” Aaten said. “They will be some big shoes to walk in, but I think my mother left me all the tools to do so. Her last song was sung but the melody will just keep going on.”
In addition to Aaten, Wheeler is survived by daughter Mary Ellen Wheeler of St. Louis; three sons, Steve Wheeler of Las Vegas, Kenneth Wheeler of Creve Coeur and Khamaron-Alif Wheeler of St. Louis; a brother, Darde Smith of Richmond Heights; three sisters, Delores Laster of University City, Samella Miller of St. Louis and Ernestine Stith of St. Louis; 15 grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren.
The final services for Mae Wheeler are as follows: Friday, June 24, 3-9 p.m., Jazz Jam Wake, Eddie Randle & Sons Funeral Home, 4600 Natural Bridge Ave.
Sunday, June 26, viewing 3-4:15 p.m., funeral 4:30-7:30 p.m., Greater Grace Church, 3690 Pershall Rd. Ferguson, MO 63135, 314-867-1233. A
repast will follow the funeral in the church and on the church lawn.
The Sheldon and the Bosman Twins will present a Tribute to Mae Wheeler, on Monday, July 11 at 7 p.m. to benefit the Mae Wheeler Scholarship Fund featuring Jeanne Trevor, the Gateway Men’s Chorus, Denise Thimes, Gene Lynn, Trio Trés Bien, The Bosman Twins, A.J., Bill Tucker and Wendy Gordon at The Sheldon Concert Hall, 3648 Washington. Call 314-533-9900.
