Kathleen Wheeler Obituary

Wheeler
Kathleen "Kathy" Wheeler
December 30, 1948
July 11, 2025

Kathleen (Kathy) Wheeler died at home in Fairfax Station, VA, on Jul 11, 2025, She had been released from the hospital four days earlier where she was being treated for throat cancer and pneumonia. Her husband of 56 years, retired AF Col Michael (Mike) Wheeler was with her when she died.
Kathy was born in Kansas City, KS, on Dec 30, 1948. She grew up in Atchison, KS, and Manitou Springs, CO, where she graduated in 1962 front Manitou High School and then attended Colorado College where she was a member of the Gamma Phi Betta sorority and lived at the Max Kade House.
Kathy was married in the Pauline Chapel at the Broadmoor on Aug 23, 1969, and joined her husband in Tucson. AZ, where he was studying for a PhD. Kathy took history courses at the University of Arizona which she later transferred back to Colorado College where she received her BA in history and teaching certificate in 1971. After a teaching tour at USAFA, her husband was transferred to the Pentagon. She joined him there in 1975. They moved to Grand Forks, ND, where her husband was a deputy commander in a missile wing in 1983 and then returned to the DC area where they remained after her Husband retired in 1991.
While in North Dakota, she began participating in the Master Gardeners program, which she continued in Virginia for over 20 years. She attended the landscape design program at George Washington University and received a certificate in landscape design. She formed her own business, Kathleen Wheeler Landscapes. When her sister, Barbara, developed diabetes in 1991, Kathy brought her back to Virginia to live with the family.
Kathy was preceded in death by her mother in 1987 and father in 1995.
She is survived by her husband, sister, sister-in-law (Pamela Lange), brother-in law (Steve Breden), and several nephews and nieces and their children.
A viewing took place in Virginia at the Fairfax Memorial Funeral Home on Jul 24 followed by a funeral at Nativity Catholic Parish in Burke, VA, the following morning. Her body was flown back to Colorado and there will be a celebration of life at the Swan-Law Funeral Home on Aug 13 from 2 to 6 pm, followed by a burial the next day at the USAFA Cemetery at 11 am, where her husband will someday be buried. A reception and lunch then will be held at Parvicini Restaurant in Old Colorado City on W Colorado Ave.
Kathy was a lovely, talented, beautiful person and a devoted wife, sister, and friend. She is deeply missed.