Ann Wheat

Ann Wheat was born and raised in Leipsic, Ohio, daughter of Ferdinand and Theo Warren. She graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1957, the year she married Don Wheat. They lived in Rensselaer, Ind., and then for more than 50 years in the communities of Austin and Oak Park on Chicago's westside. Ann studied at the American Conservatory of Music and taught piano to Oak Parkers for 40 years before retiring to South Haven, Mich. in 2013.  

Ann volunteered for years, serving the League of Women Voters, the Chicago Area Music Teachers Association and Third Unitarian Church. Most recently, she volunteered with the American Association of University Women and the South Haven Performance Series. She loved swimming, birds and the outdoors, sharing her love of nature with her many friends, her children, and grandsons.

She is missed by friends and family. Her surviving family includes her husband, Don, their children, Mark, Andrew and Sarah, their children's spouses, Montse, Julia and Tim, and their grandsons Micah, Emerson, Nicholas, Foster and Cormac. Ann's surviving family also includes her siblings, Kathy and Bill.

A memorial service is scheduled at Third Unitarian Church, 301 N. Mayfield Ave. in Chicago on Saturday, Sept. 19 at 2 pm. To donate in her honor please consider the Sarett Nature Center (http://sarett.com/), Alliance for the Great Lakes (http://www.greatlakes.org/), or PING to promote Oak Park music education (https://sites.google.com/site/pingoprf/).