David Maurice Wheaton, 60, died Oct. 14, 2015, in his Plant City home, where he had lived for the last eight years.
Mr. Wheaton was the oldest son of Maurice and Mamie Wheaton. He was born in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada. He grew up in the Brandon area after moving at age 9. He graduated from Brandon High School and attended St. Petersburg Junior College.
He worked a route in Dunedin and the Clearwater area for Great Bay Distributing, bringing happiness to his customers. He was known as “Dave” to so many. For more than 20 years, he was a professional chauffeur for Allstar Limousine, where he provided personal chauffeur services for Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf and had a government security clearance. That made him the perfect choice as the chauffeur to drive foreign dignitaries such as Margaret Thatcher and many celebrities such as William Shatner.
His talkative personality made him a friend to almost everyone he met. He was beloved by neighbors and was an unusually giving person. In the family, he was known as Santa because of his “above and beyond” generosity and the amount of laughter he brought with him. He could wax poetic for any family holiday, graduations and birthdays. Some of his interests were traveling to exotic places, skiing in Switzerland, Windjammer cruises and sailing on the Americas Cup Vessel in the Caribbean. He also was an avid antique and coin collector.
He is survived by his brother, Douglas, of Riverview; sisters, Heather, of Plant City, and Linda, of West Palm Beach; four nieces, Laura and Stephanie, of Plant City, and Emily and Ashley, of Spring, Texas.
Condolences may be made at WellsMemorial.com.