Independent Enterprise
Wednesday, January 06, 1993
Opal Mae Wheeler, 88, Payette, died Dec. 30, 1992, in an Ontario hospital. Memorial services were 2 p.m. Jan. 4 at Shaffer-Jensen Memory Chapel, Payette, with Pastor Bill Slabaugh of the First Baptist Church, Payette, officiating. Private inurnment was at Riverside Cemetery, Payette.
She was born July 10, 1904, in Amherst, Neb., the daughter of Burt G. and Eva Mae Cole Forbes. She moved to Payette March 1, 1905, where she was raised and educated. On Oct. 26, 1923, she married John Chipman who died June 26, 1948. She worked as a nurses aid in Ontario for several years before she met and later married Byron R. Wheeler June 18, 1965, in Payette. Mr. Wheeler died March 11, 1987. She was a member of the First Baptist Church, Payette, the Veterans of Foreign War Auxiliary, Payette. Opal enjoyed writing letters, gardening, fishing and sewing.
Survivors include a son Ralph Chipman of Payette; a daughter-in-law, Yukie Chipman of Huntington Beach, Calif.; four grandchildren, Carol Chipman, Linda Ellis, Joanne Daily and Dr. David Chipman, all of Huntington Beach; two sister-in-law, Maxine Homsher of Boise, and Olathe Forbes of Payette; six great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews. She was also preceded in death by a son, LeRoy J. Chipman, three brothers, and four sisters.
