MAKC’s KEITH WHEELAND RECOUNTS ‘UNCOMMON ADVENTURES OF A COMMON MAN’
BY CURT HARLER
Keith Wheeland (NSS-2878 OS FE) is anything but a common man – one of the few quibbles one can make about his autobiography titled KEITH: UNCOMMON ADVENTURES OF A COMMON MAN. His 70 years of caving stand as testament.
A long-time life member of MAKC, Keith joined the Nittany Grotto in 1952. The following year he joined the NSS.
Keith started caving with the Penn State Nittany Grotto and, with the exception of his military service and some fantastic caving trips, lived in the Centre County area for the bulk of his life. In fact, professionally he never wandered far from the Penn State campus. He began work at the University in 1956 in the administrative data processing center and stayed there, under the department’s various incarnations, until retirement. To give some idea of the time scope of KEITH, when he began working there Penn State was Pennsylvania State College. His ever-expanding computer background gave him a leg up on developing the computer system which records Pennsylvania caves.
“Gussy” (as Keith is known to friends) became part of Butler Cave Conservancy Society (BCCS) in 1969 and later served on its board. A major exception to his Centre County living would be his roughly 500 trips over Bullpasture River Road to the Roost – a home he built and has bequeathed to the BCCS upon his death. It serves as a shelter for cavers working at Butler Cave in Bath County, VA. An intriguing chunk of the book relates tales of the many caves on the Roost property…almost all of which start with the letter B.
The book is written with the non-caver in mind but provides delightful reading for anyone who has ventured underground. The first third of KEITH records his early life through high school. Pennsylvanians today may be surprised to discover that indoor toilets and running water were not givens in the Clearfield-Centre County area then. In fact, Wheeland grew up in a series of homes near State College that lacked those amenities. But he never lacked for food or fun and regales the reader with accounts of youthful misadventures…including his first cave visit which was both unsupervised and unauthorized. It turns out Rockview Cave is on the grounds of the eponymous penitentiary. Keith never went back but learned two lessons: “cavers obtain permission before entering another person’s property” and wardens do not grant permission to wander their grounds.
He established Nittany Grotto Inc. as a Grotto of the NSS, originally to assure that cave-related money raised by the student grotto went to caving and not to the University. That move proved propitious when the school decreed caving club members could not go caving (other groups, including the SCUBA club faced similar bans on club-related activities like diving; many other colleges nationwide did the same silly thing).
Wheeland is a Fellow of the NSS and what he has done for the NSS would fill a book. For years, he was the Internal Organization contact, riding herd on the 200-plus grottoes that make up the NSS. He was active in MAR (Mid-Appalachian Region) of NSS. He is the recipient of the NSS’s William J. Stephenson Outstanding Service Award. He, along with Will and Bette White, were the lifeblood of the Nittany Grotto.
From an historical perspective, from a sociological perspective, and from a speleological perspective, KEITH is worth getting. It is an easy read. Even those who know Keith Wheeland well will learn a thing or three.
KEITH is a 190-page paperback available for $19.99 from the author or through Amazon.