RHS Hall of Fame Presentation for Guy Peterson

January 10, 2019

(8:30-8:35)

Good morning! My name is Pam Morey Houfek and I am a graduate of Riverview and a Hall of Fame Board member. I will facilitate the induction of two Riverview High School graduates: Mr. Guy Peterson and Mr. Chris Wheeler. 

    Special guest attending with Chris is his brother, Scott. 

    For both inductions, their friends, Cheryl Stanzione and Kim Wheeler are here. In addition, I would like to recognize the Board members of the Hall of Fame who were able to come this morning: Jo Ivey, Patricia Martin, Mike Sweeting, and Gary Sprinz.

    The purpose of the RHS Hall of Fame is to recognize and honor outstanding RHS graduates for their personal and professional lifetime achievements that extend the legacy of Riverview High School. 

    Our second honoree is Mr. Chris Wheeler 

     He graduated from Riverview High School in 1974. While a student, one of his favorite classes was Physics. He was also a member of the Kilties. Following high school he studied at California Institute of Technology and graduated with honors with a degree in applied physics and then received an MBA from Harvard Business School. 

     During the past 30 + years, he garnered extensive experience in real estate development, management and financing.  He oversaw the acquisition and development of 20,000 multifamily units as well as office space, shopping centers, and industrial parks. In addition to his real estate experience, Chris managed the transition of two public-private entity transactions on Wall Street. He has served as a Commissioner for Gulf Stream, Florida, President of Caltech Alumni Association, a member of the Urban Land Institute and on the Board of Governors for the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts.

    Here are a few unique facts about Mr. Wheeler and an example of putting research into action with his hobbies as well as his professional life. He cultivated a home ‘garden’ of over 100 various species of palm trees. A current project is the research, design, and planting of acres of fruit orchards. The harvest is given away to his neighbors. A third hobby is one that he started as a teen-ager in Sarasota. Chris’s father, Lyle Wheeler, was the #1 pilot for Pan American airlines. Lyle taught teenagers, Chris and Kim Wheeler, to fly planes. Chris continued to gain experience leaning to fly a wide variety of planes over the years. Today he is an accomplished airline pilot and is certified to fly helicopters, jets, and bi-planes. 

    Chris is a man with many talents both professionally and personally. Today we celebrate these accomplishments and induct Mr. Wheeler into the RHS Hall of Fame as a renowned graduate of the Class of 

 Inducted into the RHS Hall of Fame Monday, August 26, 2019

Dr. Jack Longino is the adjunct Curator of Entomology at Utah Museum of Natural History.  He is also an adjunct professor of biology at Utah State University.  A childhood fascination with insects led him to an interest in ecology and the desire to explain patterns of diversity. He settled on ants as an ecologically dominant group of insects worthy of study.  By many he is called the "Ant Man" because he has coordinated large-scale inventories of Neotropical insect biodiversity.  He has discovered and described new species of ants.