LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — On a typical Friday morning in February, the guys would gather around the “Horseshoe of Knowledge” at Wheeler Pharmacy to discuss Kentucky basketball and anything else making the world go round. But on this Friday, the conversation shifted. This morning was reserved for remembering the man who gave Lexington this iconic place.
“He established a family-friendly environment for the whole neighborhood,” said customer Jim Hanna. Mr. Hanna has been coming here since he was a kid playing little league baseball.
“We’d do that and come over for a milkshake or a coke after practice,” he recalled.
Wheeler Pharmacy’s founder, William “Buddy” Wheeler, passed away on Thursday night at 89. He founded this place 66 years ago, generating his initial customer base by handing out fliers all over town. The business, part pharmacy, part soda shop, is everything you’d think it might be when conjuring up images of an old-school mom-and-pop operation. That’s how Mr. Wheeler built it, and that’s how he intended for it to remain over time.
“It really is like family,” said Jim Parsons, who has been coming here since the 1960s.
“You call up and have a prescription refill and say, ‘refill my prescription,’ and that’s all you have to say,” he said of the customer service everyone receives here.
Others appreciate the family-like nature of the business as well.
“They know me when I walk in the door,” said Frank Godbey. “Brenda says, ‘Good morning,’ and I say, ‘Good morning.’ Some places, you don’t get that,” he said.
The main attraction here is and has always been, the breakfast bar where UK fans have gathered for generations to discuss the school’s teams. Over the years, they’ve been blessed to be able to take their grievances to the top.
“Joe B (Coach Hall) was my seatmate here. Later on, (coach John) Calipari was my seatmate here,” Mr. Parsons said while pointing to the stools on either side of him.
Parson noted that the coaches who won the National Championships in Lexington were all members of the breakfast circuit at Wheeler.
Buddy’s family members, including his son Stuart, who now runs the pharmacy, didn’t want to be interviewed for this story, understandably. Their patriarch was, we’re told, still discussing what needed to be done at the store until his final days.
“He was just one of a kind,” Parsons said.
Another relatively new member of this group had his spin on what coming to this place means to him.
“Getting up at 6:30 in the morning when you’re retired and coming in here tells you something,” Elzie Sheegog stated.
Everyone who knew William “Buddy” Wheeler was here to tell you something about him this Friday.
“Unfailingly nice. A good guy. Everybody is going to miss him,” Hanna said.
Mr. Godbey referred back to the family atmosphere here.
“Always glad to see you,” he said of Wheeler.
Funeral arrangements for William Buddy Wheeler are pending.
