At the weekly meeting of the Rotary Club of Tehachapi, the speaker was Tehachapi resident and Rotary member Christal Wheeler, a member of the Wood Family Funeral Service team. She gave a presentation known as a “Rotary Craft Talk,” in which a Rotarian shares their approach to the craft of living, including the stories and experiences that have shaped their life.
Wheeler initially joined Wood Family Funeral Service team in 2019 as the event and wedding planner for the funeral home’s outdoor venue. The funeral home manager soon realized that she had an innate ability to work with families under stressful conditions. In 2021, Wheeler was asked to join the arrangement team and, not one to back down from a challenge, she accepted the offer.
Although this career course was not anticipated, she soon discovered that she felt such deep empathy for others who were dealing with a loss. She said this ability turned out to be a gift that helped families through the grieving process. She is now the managing partner at Wood. She received a degree in business management from Cerro Coso Community College, and she is a licensed funeral director as well as a certified International Event and Wedding Professional.
Although she was born in Riverside, she was raised in Bakersfield, graduating from Foothill High School. Following high school, she lived for a number of years in Susanville in Northern California, where she raised her three children. During this time, she became active in the community theater, especially the Best of Broadway productions, and it was in the theater where she met her husband, Jason Wheeler. In 2015, they moved to Tehachapi to be closer to Christal’s parents, and they have truly found a home here.
Over the course of her career, Wheeler has been an office administrator and manager for several firms, and she worked for the Department of Defense for five years. Locally, she worked for Triassic Vineyards, and then took a position with Jennifer’s Terrace as an event planner, which she said was her “dream job.” After working for financial adviser Lance Patton at Independent Financial Group for a few years, she began her employment at Wood Family Funeral Service.
When she became an arrangement counselor, she said, she found a lot of peace in her job, especially helping people through the grief process. Often she works with families who are rather lost in how to proceed with arrangements for their loved ones, because, she explained, “It’s an area that a lot of people don’t talk about.”
The advice she shares is that it is important to have a discussion with family, as well as to preplan and prepay if possible. She said this can avoid conflict within the family at a very emotional time, when people are uncertain as to what the final arrangements should include or have different ideas as to what the person wanted. Prepaying for final arrangements will help out the family by guarding against inflation. She advised that it’s important to take care of the estate planning paperwork as well, so the family can avoid dealing with probate, which can be costly and time consuming.
Wheeler feels that helping people through this time of grief is now a passion for her. She said, “The funeral home has become my heart and it is an act of love to help people through such a difficult time.”
When she is not working, Wheeler enjoys spending time with her family, including her one grandchild, either at home or traveling. She likes puttering around in the garden, singing with the praise team at church, and performing or directing at the Beekay Theater. She has been staying busy doing the costumes and backstage direction for “Oliver!”, which runs through Dec. 15.
To thank Wheeler for her presentation, President Jennifer Palakiko presented her with a certificate, and a donation was made to the Rotary Foundation in her honor.
The Tehachapi Rotary Club meets at noon every Thursday at Kelcy’s, and is a time to gather for friendship, learning about important and relevant topics, and working together to support the local community. Rotary is the largest service organization in the world, and is committed to “Service Above Self,” devoting time and resources to projects that make a difference around the globe. For more information about the Rotary Club, you can visit their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/RotaryClubofTehachapi/.
Susan Andreas-Bervel is secretary of Rotary Club of Tehachapi.