Cedar Rapids native celebrated her 100th birthday with fellow Girl Scouts

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — “I’m going to be 100. I’ve never dreamed of even living to 100.” said Rachel Wheeler, a longtime volunteer and supporter of Girl Scouts.

Wheeler is turning 100 on March 13th! She has served many roles through Girl Scouts in the Cedar Rapids community for 55 years.

“It’s a valuable program for girls. And I wanted to be a part of it.” said Wheeler. “The reason I started was I went to an organization meeting with my daughter. The person in charge said we have 20 girls who want to be in Girl Scouts but don’t have one leader. So guess who volunteered.” Wheeler said chuckling to herself.

Her favorite role of as a volunteer service unit director, Wheeler had a hand in bringing many girls and leaders to Girl Scouts.

“I seem to have done a lot of the same jobs she did. I got recruited by her to take over and do them for a while. Never as well as she did though.” said Cheryl Detlepsen, former Girl Scout recruited by Wheeler.

A true supporter of Girl Scouts, she encourages the organization to keep up the good work and inspires others to be a role model for girls!

“She’s an excellent role model. I’ve told that to people for years. She’s my role model. I am very blessed to have her living with us.” said Mary Beth Binder, Wheeler’s daughter.

Binder said the people that showed up at the event today, are just a handful of individuals Wheeler has impacted.

Binder wanted to celebrate her mother’s big birthday in a fun way. She wanted close friends, family and Girl Scouts to send her mother birthday cards. She went through Wheeler’s address book and Christmas card collection to inform people of her idea. Wheeler has received over 80 cards in the week leading up to her birthday.

On Saturday, Wheeler plans to spend the day with her children and grandchildren. She also said she expects to be by the phone all day.