Sally Louise (McClements) Wheaton

Sally Louise Wheaton

1936–2025

Sally Louise Wheaton, a native of Pittsburgh, PA, most recently a resident of Milwaukee, WI, passed quietly on July 8, 2025. While she drafted her own obituary, her daughters have chosen to add details that she would have been less forthcoming about.

Born June 16, 1936 to John and Emma McClements, she was preceded in death by her husband (Dan A. Wheaton) and her sister (Suzanne Lucas). Sally is survived by the “loves and meaning of her life”: Tierney (Terry) Wheaton of Bayonne, NJ, Hazel Wheaton of Milwaukee, WI, her cherished grandsons, Tyler and Christopher Samples, and an extended circle of nieces (and nephew), grands and great grands.

She was a teacher of elementary school art in Michigan, a copywriter for Kaufmann’s Department Store in Pittsburgh, and a librarian’s assistant and teacher of adult education in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania.

Sally was an unassuming role model, effortlessly kind, unfailingly loyal. Soft spoken, yet passionate about justice and fair play. Empathetic, loving, and loved by family and dear friends alike. She crafted birthday parties for her children that are still remembered by their friends a half-century later. In 1974, she was on the ballot as a vice presidential candidate in Pennsylvania. She was an insatiable reader and an elegant writer. An artist with ink, watercolors, yarn, and fabric, she responded to her daughters’ defacement of walls by replacing their crayons with paint and providing a scaffold.

Sally requested there be no service; her daughters will arrange a celebration of her life and Dan’s at a future date. Donations in her memory can be sent to any of her favorite charities: The American Friends Service Committee, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Doctors Without Borders.

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