You never know where you might find volunteer Trish Wheeler at Marine Discovery Center. She could be leading kids for summer camp activities or helping as a docent in the Welcome Center or assisting MDC’s Florida Master Naturalist Program instructors with fishing nets on field trips.
And no matter which task it is, the retired grocery store manager is probably smiling, cracking jokes and having fun.
Learn more about Trish in her conversation with MDC’s staff writer Lisa D. Mickey:
Q: Where did you grow up?
A: I was born in northern Virginia and grew up mainly overseas. My dad worked in foreign service (the Central Intelligence Agency) and we lived in the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and West Africa from the time I was born until about 15. We came back to Virginia for a couple of years because my dad was working out of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. We stayed there for two years and then we went to Liberia, West Africa. We were there for 3½ years and then moved to Homestead, Fla.
Q: Did you attend college?
A: I studied food and resource economics at the University of Florida. Basically, it was a business degree through the agricultural college. I knew that everybody has to eat, so everybody has to shop at a grocery store.
Q: Where did you begin your career?
A: My very first job was with McDonald’s all through high school as a teenager. I was on McDonald’s All-Star Team, which is a competition about making fries, burgers and customer service. It was about speed and quality. My first job after college was working for Kroger, starting in December 1981.
Q: What did you do with Kroger?
A: I went into a six-month management training program and I worked in every department of the store. I actually filled a role in the various positions from the bakery to the deli to the produce department. After that, I became a co-manager and then, seven years later, I became a store manager in the Atlanta area. I worked for Kroger for 38 years.
Q: How many employees were in your store?
A: In my smallest store, I had 100 employees and in my biggest store, there were about 350 employees. That store was open 24 hours, seven days a week. We only closed on Christmas.
Q: What did you enjoy about that work?
A: I liked working with the employees and the public, and every day was different. There were new challenges and I wore many hats. I was all about the employees and their leadership, but around my 35th year, the corporate culture shifted to just making money. They began micro-managing us and telling us where we needed to be in the store at specific times. I retired with a pension and 10 percent off Kroger groceries for life. I still do Kroger at-home delivery and I love it!
Q: When did you start your family?
A: I met Keith Wheeler when I was in college. He was a bouncer at a bar I used to go to in Gainesville, so I got in free all the time! We got married in February 1982. He’s a handyman-kind-of-guy and there was an apartment complex that needed a maintenance man, so that’s where we moved. He did that for a few years and finished his college degree in Georgia while I was working for Kroger. After we had a house, two cars and a boat, then we had kids. We have two adult sons in Chicago and Atlanta.
Q: When did you move to Florida?
A: We moved to Florida in July 2019, to Ormond Beach. My grandfather lived in Ormond-by-the Sea, so I’ve been coming here since I was 5. Keith and I both knew we wanted to move to Florida. He was born in Boca Raton.
Q: How and when did you get involved with MDC?
A: After working 60 hours a week for 38 years, I didn’t have a lot of time for fun stuff. When I came down here, I was totally bored and driving my husband nuts. My sister lives in Edgewater and told me about Marine Discovery Center. I joined a lot of different groups, got involved with the local garden club, an Audubon chapter, Volunteer Volusia and Explore Volusia. Some people with Explore Volusia were talking about the Florida Master Naturalist Program, so, I signed up for a class in 2020, which is when the pandemic started. I got an email from instructor Trey Hannah saying that our Florida Uplands class had been canceled. I realized he was the same person who worked with the county’s Explore Volusia program at that time, so that’s how I made a connection with him. That was also around the time I learned more about Marine Discovery Center. I went to MDC’s Volunteer Orientation and signed up for five days of spring camp, which I learned was not what I needed to do. I slept like a baby that week because I was so tired at the end of each day, but I had the best time.
Q: Did you work with other programs at MDC?
A: I learned about the horseshoe-crab monitoring program. I like helping education with field trips and working as a docent in the Welcome Center. I have signed up to learn how to monitor MDC’s new shoreline area and I volunteered at the Plein Air Paint Out in October. I also help with camps every summer and with various clean-up projects.
Q: What have you enjoyed the most?
A: The Florida Master Naturalist Program opened up a whole new world for me. I started with the Florida Uplands Systems class and took the other two core module classes to become a Florida Master Naturalist. I’m only lacking two of all of the FMNP classes offered right now.
Q: How did the FMNP classes help you become a better volunteer?
A: I was able to tell kids in the camps what they were seeing and explain more about it. Watching them learn was priceless. I enjoy going out with kids who have never been on a boat or gone fishing or surfing.
Q: What excites you about being part of MDC’s mission?
A: I like watching the vision of this place unfold. Just watching what has been done and watching MDC grow and watching this campus develop is very inspiring. It’s changed a lot. I helped plant MDC’s new restoration site through the Disney grant earlier this year.
Q: Why is volunteering important?
A: I like volunteering because I can make my own hours, but I volunteer because I like to give back. I’ve been very fortunate in my life. Even when I was a store manager, I tried to do special events. We ran a Bowl-a-Thon for 20 years as a fundraiser for charities.
Q: Do you volunteer anywhere else other than MDC?
A: I help with Volunteer Volusia and do clean-ups with them. I also help as a [Ponce Inlet] Jetty Ambassador. During the spring and summer months, the Volusia County Environmental Management office goes to Ponce Inlet with a dive boat to clean up entangled fishing line. I stand on the jetty and educate the public about why the county workers are out there, what they are doing and how local anglers can properly dispose of fishing line. I encourage them to use the fishing line recycling tubes on the dock. I also volunteer at the Artists’ Workshop as a studio monitor during the clay studio hours.
Q: What are your hobbies?
A: I’m a crafter. Keith and I also enjoy camping in Florida state parks. We have a 25-foot trailer. Our goal is to go to a different state park each time and to camp for one week each month. I just love the peacefulness and serenity of camping. I look at things a lot differently now as a Florida Master Naturalist. I notice a lot more things than I used to notice.
Q: What is something that you have learned at MDC?
A: Everything I’ve learned through the Florida Master Naturalist Program is all new to me – the flora, fauna, birds, everything! I’m a lot more conscientious about the environment now. I actually look back at all the waste we had at the grocery store and it makes me sick on my stomach. I’m a lot better about recycling and water use and things like that. I’m much more appreciative of nature and what’s around us.
Q: Where did you get your love of nature?
A: My mom was a member of Halifax River Audubon chapter for a long time and so was my sister. When we moved down here, I had some nice property and a pond, but no birds. My sister told me to plant native plants. I had no idea about that, either, so I joined a garden club and Melissa Lammers from Halifax River Audubon came and spoke. She said, “All you need to do is replant one part of your yard with native plants and the birds will come,” so I went home and started working on one little island at the pond. Now, I have three islands with native plants and a ton of birds all the time. I’m helping the bird population.
Q: How much time did you have for nature and camping when you were a store manager?
A: When we lived in Georgia, we actually lived on Lake Lanier and we had a boat. We used our boat quite often. I’m not really a fisherman, but my mom was the Fisherwoman of the Day in Ponce Inlet 30-40 years ago. Everybody knew my mom, Violet McDonough, back then. My parents were among the founding members of the Halifax Fishing Club and were avid saltwater anglers.
Q: Why are nature centers like Marine Discovery Center important to our community?
A: Because nature was here before we were and we need to learn to respect it. If we don’t respect it, we’re not going to have a world to live in. I like the way MDC and Volunteer Volusia and others are a big network with overlapping activities. I love the way MDC has grown and how [executive director] Chad [Truxall] and the staff will leave a legacy here for future generations. Plus, now that I have the time, I’m not going to sit at home when there are so many things to do and learn.
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