Thelma Pauline Wheeler

B. July 17, 1915

D. June 28, 2011

Known to most of her family and friends as Kay, she was born in Dayton, Ohio to Albert and Anna Katterjohn, raised in Missouri, and graduated Deaconess Hospital School of Nursing in 1937. Kay was a First Lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corp. at Fort Sill, OK where she met First Lieutenant Robert Wheeler. They were married on April 22, 1942 and had three children, Richard, Barbara and Kenneth. They moved to California in 1960 where Kay worked as the director of nursing in private convalescent hospitals in both Hayward and Pleasanton for over twenty years. Upon retirement at age 71 she began a twenty year volunteer career at St. Helena Hospital. Kay was also a lifelong volunteer at her various churches and was much admired and loved by all. Kay was preceded in death by her husband Robert, half-brother Karl and sister Norma. She is survived by her sisters Esther of Lawrence, Kansas and Martha of Phoenix, Arizona, and her three children, nine grandchildren, and fifteen great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at the First Presbyterian Church, 1428 Spring St., St. Helena on July 23, at 11:00 AM.

Contributions in lieu of flowers may be sent to the First Presbyterian Church of St. Helena, her other “home and family” for thirty-three years. Arrangements under the direction of Morrison Funeral Chapel, St. Helena, CA.