By Christina Santucci
The older brother of 6-year-old Benjamin Wheeler, who was killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting, helped honor Benjamin’s memory during a ceremony in Sunnyside Saturday.
Nate Wheeler, 9, stood on a ladder and helped to pull off a covering from a street sign at the corner of 41st Street and Queens Boulevard, as his parents, elected officials and community members smiled and clapped.
The corner was co-named Benjamin Wheeler Place, after the former Sunnyside resident who was one of the 20 first-graders killed when a gunman opened fire at the Connecticut school last year.
“These are the blocks where Ben first saw the world,” Benjamin’s father, David Wheeler, told the crowd. “When he came home from Roosevelt Hospital, it was the blocks here … and now this street will carry his name.”
David Wheeler thanked his former neighbors for their support after his son’s death.
“Your kindness and your generosity cannot be overstated or undervalued. You quite literally have kept us standing,” he said.
After the unveiling, City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) presented the Wheeler family with a commemorative sign bearing young Benjamin’s name.
Dozens of Sunnyside residents joined Van Bramer — U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Jackson Heights), state Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) and state Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan (D-Ridgewood) — for the ceremony.
“The Wheelers are very special people and our neighborhood is very special,” Van Bramer said. “They moved to Connecticut, but the love they left behind is still so incredibly strong in this community.”
Many attendees wore green, which was Benjamin’s favorite color, and Van Bramer said he selected his tie for that reason.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been at a street renaming of more significance than I am today,” Crowley said before describing Benjamin’s love of the No. 7 train.
“It’s really special that we rename this street Benjamin Wheeler Place, and the 7 train will go back and forth, back and forth,” Van Bramer said of the subway, which runs on elevated tracks along Queens Boulevard. “It will be a beautiful, beautiful thing.”
“Ben, I’m told, was a huge Beatles fan and one great Beatles song was ‘All You Need Is Love,’ and there is a lot of love on this street today for the Wheeler family,” Crowley said.
