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The familiar, friendly face that has greeted visitors to the Buena Vista city manager’s office the past 13 years has left the municipal building. Dawn Wheeler is also no longer taking minutes at City Council meetings.
Wheeler retired recently due to health issues, leaving a big void in the operations of Buena Vista’s city government. City Manager Jason Tyree said she is sorely missed.
“I wish I could have her for another 13 years,” remarked Tyree. “She was absolutely amazing – she was kind but stern when she had to be. She always had a positive attitude, no matter the situation.”
Tyree noted that he has “worked with several secretaries over my career, and Dawn by far was the best that I’ve ever worked with. Whoever takes over, will have big shoes to fill.”
A native of Buena Vista and 1972 graduate of Parry McCluer High School, Wheeler began her working career at Blue Bird East in 1973. She worked in the purchasing department as a buyer/secretary, staying with the company until the factory closed in the early 1990s.
She went to work at Bontex in the exports department, where she remained for a dozen or so years, until this factory shut down. She then got a job in the Rockbridge County treasurer’s office, working under former treasurer Carol Hines for one-and-a-half years before leaving to take the job in Buena Vista of clerk of City Council and administrative assistant to the city manager.
Wheeler said this week that she is missing the interaction she had with all of the city employees and citizens who stopped by the office and attended City Council meetings. Now that she’s retired, she’ll be able to spend more time with family, which includes a son and granddaughter.
City Council went into closed session during last week’s meeting to consider prospective successors to Wheeler. An announcement on who that person will be is expected in early May.
