Initially Wheat kept all his own books, but after he forgot to draw a draft on a load of calves he'd shipped, he decided it was time to get a good bookkeeper. Born in 1915, Wheat was raised four miles to the north of where he lives today at Admire. His father left there in 1923, moving his family to Granada, Colorado, where he took a job with Ragland Commission Company. He stayed there about two years and then went up to Eads, and from there to Brandon. When the banks closed in 1929, Wheat's father, like so many, lost everything.
Wheat remembers that day quite well.
He used that money to help move his family back to Kansas. Wheat's uncle Jeff helped his father out until he was able to get back on his feet. Buster and his cousin rode two ponies the 570 miles back to Kansas. He was 12 at the time. A room cost a quarter and a meal a quarter.