Ann Warren Wheat, 80, wife of the Rev. Donald H. Wheat, died Sept. 14, 2015 in South Haven, MI. Born on Jan. 31, 1935 in Leipsic, OH, she was the daughter of Ferdinand and Theo Warren. She graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1957, the same year she married Don Wheat. They lived in Rensselaer, IN, and then for more than 50 years in the communities of Austin and Oak Park, IL.
Ann studied at the American Conservatory of Music and taught piano to Oak Parkers for 40 years. She was also a longtime community volunteer with the League of Women Voters, the Chicago Area Music Teachers Association, and Chicago’s Third Unitarian Church.
She formerly lived in Oak Park and Chicago’s Austin neighborhood and more recently South Haven, MI. She retired to South Haven in 2013 and most recently volunteered with the American Association of University Women and the South Haven Performance Series. She loved swimming, birds, the outdoors, and sharing her love of nature with her many friends, her children, and her grandsons.
“Ann was a role model for love of family, friends, children, adults, and humanity in general, and also for grace in aging and dying,” said fellow piano teacher Betsy Davis. “She will be both missed and celebrated.”
Ann Wheat is survived by her husband, Don; her children, Mark (Montse), Andrew (Julia) and Sarah (Tim); her grandsons, Micah, Emerson, Nicholas, Foster and Cormac; and her siblings, Kathy and Bill.
A memorial service was held at Third Unitarian Church in Chicago on Sept. 19. Long-time family friends, the Rev. Fred Muir of Annapolis and the Rev. Kent Matthies of Philadelphia officiated.
The service included a Schubert Impromptu, a Chopin Etude, a selection from Bach’s “Goldberg Variations,” and the hymns “All Creatures Great and Small,” and “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee.”
Donations may be made in Ann’s memory to the Sarett Nature Center, www.sarett.com or Alliance for the Great Lakes, www.greatlakes.org, or to PING to promote Oak Park music education, www.sites.google.com/site/pingoprf.
Arrangements were handled by Filibrandt Family Funeral Home at 269-637-0333 and www.filbrandtffh.com.
Condolences may be sent to Don Wheat, 77338 Pinewood Ln., South Haven, MI 29090.