Sunday's Obituary

Randel Gorden Wheeler

July 3, 1956-January 17, 2026

Kite, GA

Kite, GA- Randel Gorden Wheeler, 69, entered into rest January 17, 2026.

Randel was the son of the late Dudley and Sara “Liz” Wheeler and graduated from Butler High School. He enjoyed all types of racing from dirt track, drag racing, and NASCAR. He was an accomplished bowler who had over two 300 games and competed in leagues for many years. He also enjoyed hunting and fishing but most of all he loved his family.

Family members include his children: Tracy Stubblefield and Randy Wheeler (April); grandchildren: Macie Barela (Paul), Shawn Ford, Wyatt Wheeler, Ellie Kate Wheeler, and Gordon Wheeler; brother: Ronnie Wheeler (Wanda); longtime partner and friend: Maye Lowers; and numerous extended family members.

The family will receive friends on Monday, February 2, 2026 from 5:00 until 7:00 P.M. at Thomas Poteet & Son Funeral Directors, 214 Davis Rd., Augusta, GA 30907 (706) 364-8484. Please sign the guestbook at www.thomaspoteet.com.  Obituary courtesy of Thomas Poteet & Son Funeral Directors, www.thomaspoteet.com/obituaries/randel-wheeler

    Nowadays, a LOT of the obituaries I find in my research are online from the funeral homes' sites, especially recent obituaries.  I always check Newspapers.com (a paid site that I have a subscription to) first, but if the obituary is from the last, I don't know, 10 years or so OR it's in a newspaper that is not on Newspapers.com, like the Augusta newspaper, I will not find it.  

    That's when I do a general Google search with the person's name, indicate it's an obituary I am looking for, the year and the state when and where the person died. Most of the time, if nothing else comes up in my results, Legacy.com will.  

    I also have an automatic Google search that goes out and searches for the Tapley and other family names daily and sends me the results.  I am signed up with several funeral homes to receive obituaries every day.  So it is rare that an obituary gets by me.  Oh, it happens, but I catch most of them.  

    I do not recall how I found out about Randy Wheeler passing away.  I did not know Randy, but he was my cousin, and when I found they were having a visitation here in Augusta, I decided to attend.  That's actually a bold move for me.  I don't usually "crash" funerals or visitations, but something told me this was the time.  I enlisted my cousin, Keith, to go with me.  He is always up for meeting people.

    And... it turned out to be a great experience.  We met Randy's son and his wife, his daughter, his grandson, and his brother and sister-in-law.  They were all so gracious and seemed genuinely glad we came.  As soon as we said we were family, we were welcomed.  I am grateful for that reaction and so glad we decided to go.  

    The lesson for me that I have to keep re-learning?  Push myself out of my comfort zone and good things can happen.