Wheeler's gift endows maintenance fund for Pi Phi house that has a family history

Monmouth College announces impactful gift on Founders Day for women's fraternity

by Barry McNamara

Monmouth, Ill. (04/28/2026) — Fans of Monmouth College history are likely fans of Fannie.

That would be Fanelia Whitenack Libbey, one of the founding members of Pi Beta Phi. The nation's first women's fraternity was founded April 28, 1867, by Libbey and 11 of her friends just a few blocks from Monmouth's campus in Holt House.

One of Fannie's biggest fans is Ron Wheeler, who grew up in Monmouth and heard about her role in history from his grandmother, who was Libbey's grandniece.

"She made sure we grandkids were aware of Fannie and her accomplishments from an early age," said Wheeler, who grew up just a block from campus on East First Avenue, the same street as Holt House. "I always walked by Holt House with appropriate reverence. Then, when my own sister Barb (Wheeler Byrne '77) became a Ph Phi herself in the fall of 1974, she asked me to assist with her induction ceremony at Holt House, held by candlelight, as I recall. That was the first time I had ever been inside, and I have been a devoted fan of Fannie, and of Pi Phi, ever since. When my own niece, Barb's daughter, Megan Byrne Gillen '16, became a Pi Phi herself many years later, it simply continued an almost 150-year-old family line, so to speak."

Although he's not an alum of Monmouth himself, Wheeler has made a gift to the college that will help the women's fraternity for years to come, which the college is announcing on Pi Beta Phi Founders' Day. He established an endowed maintenance fund for the Pi Phi house. Greek life is a priority for the college, and having maintenance funds for each house allows for strategic long-term capital and facilities planning.

"The gift helps ensure that the Pi Phi house can be properly maintained in a manner that Fannie would be proud of, and that would also do her proud," said Wheeler, a 1977 graduate of Monmouth High School who went on to study at Yale University and the University of Minnesota Law School before embarking on a legal career, much of it spent in Los Angeles. He also started and ran a tech licensing organization for five years until retiring recently.

Eye-opening experiences

Before he headed off to the Ivy League, Wheeler had some impactful moments on Monmouth's campus.

"I never formally enrolled at Monmouth but was offered the opportunity to take classes there and perform in Crimson Masque plays during my senior year of high school," he said. "Both experiences changed my life for the better, forever, and I am deeply grateful to Monmouth for them."

The classes were with Milton Bowman and Jim De Young, with the latter professor directing Wheeler in The Real Inspector Hound by Tom Stoppard and Shakespeare's As You Like It.

"Spending much of my senior year of high school in the company of Monmouth professors and students gave me an invaluable head start in preparing for my own college career, but even more than that, opened my eyes to the joys of learning interesting things from - and in the company of - interesting people," said Wheeler. "The latter has proven to be a lifelong benefit."

In addition to his sister and niece, both of Wheeler's parents are Monmouth grads - Phyllis Holmquist Wheeler '49 and Philip James Wheeler '50.

"After my father's passing in 1997, my two siblings (Paul and Barb) and I started a memorial prize at Monmouth, in literature, in his name. After our mother's passing in 2020, we added her name and vocation (education) to the prize, so it is now in both their names and covers both literature and education. Because my parents lived in Monmouth for most of my own life, over the years I have also been privileged to attend many plays, concerts, academic lectures, sports events, and my niece's graduation ceremony."

Now that he's retired, Wheeler is returning "home" to Monmouth, where he can resume attending those cultural events and enjoy walking past not only Holt House, but the current Pi Phi house on the northeast corner of campus.

"Everyone's family history and life experience is different, but I would encourage all alumni and friends to consider how much something or someone connected to Monmouth College has made a positive impact on themselves, their family, or both, and how a gift of whatever size might actually be as much a gift to themselves as to the college," said Wheeler. "That's because, as Maya Angelou said so well, 'I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.'"

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