Wheaton was born in Elyria, Ohio, on August 15, 1909, the first child of Harry and Lizzie Nicholl Wheaton.[1] His family moved to Redlands, California, when he was three.[1][2] He was sick for much of his childhood, but insisted on earning money as a paperboy.[1] In high school, he enjoyed physics classes.[1]
After graduating in 1933,[3] in the middle of the Great Depression, Wheaton married and worked on sound recordings for Columbia Pictures.[1] The next year, he joined the Douglas Aircraft Company as a soundproofer on Douglas DC-2 aircraft.[1] He worked his way up the corporate ladder, eventually becoming corporate vice president for engineering, the company's top engineering role, in 1961.[1][4][5]
In 1962, Wheaton became vice president for research and development at the Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, a division of Lockheed Corporation and the developer of the Polaris missile.[1] His employees later remembered him as a supportive but tough boss—he made them learn to scuba dive so that they would have respect for the sea.[1]
Later life and death
Wheaton retired from Lockheed in 1974.[6] However, he continued to provide consulting at Lockheed and at Marine Development Associates, where he was an associate and director.[1] He died on December 28, 1997.[1]
