A native of Moberly, Missouri, Claude B. Wheeler lived in Des Moines, Iowa by 1918, as he is listed as a man in service during World War I in the Iowa State Bystander of July 19, 1918. He is listed in the Des Moines City Directory in 1920. Wheeler married Dorothy Allen in Des Moines in September 1922. The September 8, 1928 Des Moines Tribune noted he represented the Corinthian Baptist Church at a prohibition conference. In March 1929 Wheeler was listed in the Des Moines Tribune as the associate pastor at Corinthian Baptist Church.

By November 1929 Wheeler became pastor at Mount Olive Baptist Church. He participated in a veterans’ ceremony with the Lincoln American Legion Post planned for Armistice Day, as noted in the Des Moines Tribune of November 9. He is listed in the church directory in that newspaper on the same date. The veterans ceremony reference has a typo, as he was listed as O. B. Wheeler of Mount Olive Baptist Church. Wheeler is listed regularly as pastor for the church in the Des Moines Tribune from 1930 to 1934.

Wheeler moved to St. Paul, Minnesota to serve as a minister, but sometimes returned to Des Moines. He was a guest pastor in 1936 and 1941 at Union Baptist Church. He visited Corinthian Baptist Church in 1943. He continued to serve as a minister in St. Paul into 1959. A clipping in the March 27, 1959 St. Paul Recorder mentioned “flowers in memory of Rev. Claude B. Wheeler.” Wheeler’s death date and burial location are unknown at this time.