Barbara Cook Wheeler

Born on October 2, 1943, in New Orleans, Louisiana, Barbara was a woman of strength, intelligence, and religious devotion. In 1964, she married Harold Joseph Wheeler. They raised two sons, Maxwell Wheeler and Samuel Wheeler, and shared many happy years together until Harry’s death.

Barbara earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Loyola University of New Orleans. She was an alumna of Mercy Academy.

Her hobbies included traveling, attending her book club, and gardening. She loved theater, opera, music, literature, and the arts and shared these interests with her sons.

Barbara served her community and the Catholic Church. She volunteered at the Seelos Center and the adoration chapel at St. Clement of Rome. She was a parishioner of St. Patrick’s Church, her spiritual home in downtown New Orleans.

Barbara was overjoyed by the arrival of her grandchildren, Remy Wheeler and Samuel Bennett Wheeler. She shared a love with them and enjoyed swimming and reading with them, playing with Big Blocks, and going on walks together with her dog Molly. Her grandchildren brought her great happiness.

Barbara is survived by her sons, Maxwell and Samuel (Elizabeth); her grandchildren, Remy and Bennett; her sisters, Carol Wuchter and Mary Beth Meyer; two nephews, Edward McGowan and John Chepolis; and her companion of seventeen years, William Siegel.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Harold; her parents, Edward J. Cook, Jr. and Iris Jackson Cook; and her nephew, Michael Chepolis.

A Mass for the Dead will be held on Tuesday, August 5 at 9:30 am at St. Patrick’s Church, 724 Camp Street, New Orleans, followed by a private burial at Metairie Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Barbara’s memory to St. Patrick’s Church.