Mary Jane Wheeler

Mary Jane Wheeler and her twin were born 4/23/1925 in Brookline, MA. Her father Sam Whitley, a prominent attorney, died when she was 6. The Great Depression wiped them out financially. Through this she came to be a person who always tried to rise above the negative and accent the positive.

Mary Jane graduated from Rollins College with a BA in Sociology where she was involved in singing and acting. She attended Boston University School of Social Work. She was focused on helping people. At BU She met her future husband Richard. She always loved that he was fun loving and that he wrote poetry to her on a regular basis. Together they had 3 children; Steve, Jeff and Beth.

From the start MaryJane was always heavily involved in helping her children learn. She was deeply involved in the Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts and also taught Sunday school. She went on to organize a large parent-teacher volunteer group of over a 100 for the Pittsford school system. The group created new and exciting learning aids for the classrooms. She was awarded “The Outstanding Citizen Award” by the Town of Pittsford for all her volunteering and events she coordinated.

Mary Jane was also active with the PTA and The Junior League of Rochester. She also was a DAR. She always found time to be a Super Mom, but also made time to volunteer for good causes. She could be quite headstrong. She once went head to head with the School District because they were forcing some of the football players to use leather helmets. Within a week the team had real helmets.

There were also many times where Mary Jane would travel to take care of her aunt and mother. Not to mention the multiple times she let Steve’s rock band practice, eat and sleep at the house for 3-5 weeks at a time. Her giving heart opened up her home to several people who were down on their luck or experiencing illness.

After retiring Mary Jane moved to Cape Cod where she joined the Bayberry Quilters organization. Soon she was President organizing over a 400 members, with meetings, events and community fundraisers. She took many art classes at the Handcraft House Fine Art and Gift Gallery in Brewster focusing on water coloring. She entered multiple Senior Citizen Art Contests and won 1st place for a pen & ink of the State House in Boston, 3rd place and honorable mentions for her watercolors. She even sent a water color of Ethel Kennedy’s rogue turkey to her.

The main thing about Mary Jane is she loved people, really loved people. She always tried to find the goodness in everyone, even if it was sometimes difficult to do. She loved gatherings at her home and was famous for inviting everyone to her home, including people she just met. She loved flowers and nurtured beautiful gardens surrounding her home, “Allwinds". She was always planting something new to have as much color as possible.

She was bountifully rich in the most important element of living: LOVE.

Mary Jane is predeceased by her husband Richard, and parents Sam Whitley and Courtney Whitley-Ricketson and is survived by her sister Dulcie of Yarmouth MA, her 3 children: Steve (Nancy) Wheeler of Rochester NY, Jeff (Kim) Wheeler of Fern Park FL & Beth (John) Farrell of Brewster MA, 8 Grand Children: Rich (Lyndsee) Wheeler of Salt Lake City UT, Austin Wheeler of Rochester NY, Gen (Craig) Melvin of Aberdeen Scotland, Steve (Grace) Wheeler of Leesburg FL, Courtney (Sarah) Shute Waltham MA, Ben (Haley) Farrell or Townshend VT, Marilyn (Ben Dunlavey) Farrell of Brewster MA and James Farrell of Brewster MA and 9 great-grandchildren: Norah, Emily, Abigail, Samantha, Bodhi, Sawyer, Marley, Wendell, Augustus, and many nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to a charity of your choice. For online condolences, please visit www.nickersonfunerals.com.

There will be a private Celebration of Life at a later date.